Sparks
by callmecirce
Summary: Two years have passed since Adrien and Marinette acquired their Miraculous, but they still don't know their identities, and Hawk Moth still hasn't given up. I will eventually get to the reveal. This is my first fanfic, and honestly, my first creative writing endeavor in a long time. Constructive criticism welcome, but be gentle. I do not own the rights to any of these characters.
1. New Year

Tikki woke early, as she always did. She stretched sleepily and rolled out of her tiny, yet exquisitely made bed. This morning, she paused next to that bed and ran a tiny paw lovingly over the hand-stitched blanket that was tossed over her mattress. The whole bed, indeed, her whole house, had been lovingly crafted for her by the young woman sleeping just outside. It had been two years— _exactly_ two years—since she'd begun this journey with Marinette. She doubted that Marinette would realize the date; she was a healthy 17 year old with all of the normal worries and desires of a teen starting her last year of high school- and then some. But it didn't matter. Tikki was happy to mark the date, and reflect on the last two years on her own.

Floating out of her little house on the shelf in Marinette's room, Tikki smiled as she considered the girl's face in repose. She'd changed so much in those two short years. She'd been just a girl, shy and reserved and wholly unaware of what she was capable of. Now, she'd grown into a vibrant young woman, strong, compassionate, and clever. She'd grown physically, too. She was at least 3 inches taller, her lithe figure fuller, and her lean body stronger. She'd let her hair grow, and abandoned her once signature twin tails in favor of letting it fall in a loose blue-black curtain, or pulling it back into a long braid. Her "bluebell eyes" (and here Tikki chuckled softly, remembering Adrien's poem) were still large in her elfin face, but they were now fringed with heavy black lashes that made her eyes look more exotic. Her face had lost most of its childhood roundness, and her high cheekbones and chin were more defined. Simply put, she was stunning, but somehow, she still didn't know it. Tikki chuckled again. Some things hadn't changed at all.

It was still too early to wake Marinette. Tikki flew over to the desk, lifted a cookie from the box that Marinette kept there especially for her, and watched the morning sky brighten as she nibbled on her breakfast. Her thoughts turned then to Marinette's counterpart, Adrien Agreste. He had changed, too. He'd gained four inches to Marinette's three, and while still lean, his shoulders had broadened considerably and he'd gained in muscle mass. But he had the same laughing green eyes, the same disheveled golden blond hair, and the same ready smile. He was the perfect counterpart to her Marinette, her perfect _partner_.

Unfortunately, the two still didn't know what they were to each other. Oh, they'd grown into a comfortable friendship at school. Marinette had gotten over her shyness around him once it became clear that their respective best friends had become an inseparable couple. They were thrown together so frequently that she hadn't had much choice. She still loved him, she certainly lusted after him, but she was no longer star struck by him.

As Ladybug and Chat Noir, they'd become like two parts of a fluid whole, each knowing the other's mind without a second thought. They'd worked well together from the beginning; now, it was like watching a choreographed dance every time they'd fight. It was a partnership built on trust, mutual respect, and many, many shared experiences. Adrien, for his part, was more committed than ever to winning Ladybug as more than his friend, while she continued to gently rebuff Chat Noir in favor of his alter ego.

It was ridiculous. How they had managed to make it two whole years without revealing themselves, Tikki still could not understand. It was uncanny that they'd not figured it out on their own, especially with as bright as they both were. Privately, Tikki thought that they were both willfully oblivious, because to learn their identities now would ruin the delicate balance they'd struck. Plagg thought that they were just oblivious. But, there was no way they could continue on in this way indefinitely. She now regretted having told Marinette in the beginning that their identities must remain an absolute secret, because now Marinette would not budge from that position. Chat had tried more than once to convince her that they ought to reveal their identities to one another, and Tikki, too. But she would not be moved, and Chat—Adrien—respected her too much to force the issue. And here they were.

Tikki sighed again. The chemistry between them was undeniable. Adrien ignored it around Marinette, and Ladybug ignored it around Chat, but it was there. Tikki knew that one day, probably one day soon, that chemistry would spark and the two would no longer be able to hide from one another. She only hoped that it would not happen in such a way as to burn their worlds down around them.

* * *

Marinette did not oversleep. Perhaps she didn't bounce out of bed at the first alarm, but she didn't hit the snooze more than twice. It was the first day of her last year of school, and she was determined to start off on the right foot. But, being Marinette, she was still running behind. With Tikki tucked safely in her small purse, she breezed through the bakery downstairs, blowing kisses to her parents and snagging a few croissants on the way out the door.

She ate her croissants on the way, enjoying the cool morning. She didn't have time, though, to enjoy a leisurely walk. She wasn't late, yet, but she had to hustle.

Alya was already there, and waved from the front steps when she saw her approach. Marinette waved back. "Good morning!"

Alya reached out a hand, but instead of hugging Marinette, she raised it to her forehead. "Girl, are you feeling ok?"

Marinette frowned. "Erm, yes?"

"You're not late!" Alya laughed as her friend rolled her eyes. "Is that for me?"

Still shaking her head, she passed the bakery bag to an eager Alya. "Not that you deserve it, ye of little faith." Her eyes moved past Alya, and she brightened. "Nino! Do me a favor, and rein your girlfriend in."

"Ha! As if." He slid his arm around Alya's waist, and tugged her closer to kiss her temple. "I know better."

Alya beamed at him in approval, her mouth too full of croissant for anything else.

Marinette looked around, frowning again. "Where's Adrien? He's usually here well before I am."

"No idea." Nino shrugged. "I haven't heard from him yet this morning."

"Hmm. Well, we might as well go in. It's time."

The three friends walked in to the school together, taking their usual seats in the classroom. The seat next to Nino stayed empty for only a moment, before Adrien slipped into the room with the bell and dropped into his seat.

Alya nudged Marinette, then leaned forward, and tapped Adrien on the shoulder. "Are we in a parallel universe here? Seriously, Mari was on time and Adrien was late. What is this?"

Marinette's lips twitched, and Adrien chuckled. "Long morning," was all he said.

The girls sat back, then, as their teacher started class. It was a typical first day of school, full of policies and procedures. They had no new students this year, so it was really just a review of things that everyone already knew. The morning passed quickly, as did the afternoon. Lunch, in the middle, was a relaxed affair. The four friends sat together and caught up on the little that they'd missed in each other's lives over the summer before returning to class for the second half.

* * *

At the end of the day, Marinette stretched in her seat before rising to gather her things. "Hey, would you guys want to go do something this afternoon? We have almost no homework tonight, and I hate to waste an opportunity."

Alya shook her head. "I have some work that I need to get done on the LadyBlog, and then I have to watch the brats."

Marinette deflated a bit. If Alya was out, then so were the guys. Sure enough, Nino nodded.

"I promised this one" (here, he poked his finger into the side of Alya's head and pushed gently) "that I'd keep her company this evening. But Adrien had a similar idea earlier; perhaps the two of you could do something?"

Marinette and Adrien both looked at him in surprise.

Alya shrugged. "Well, why not? You guys hang out all the time, with us. You can hang out without us, too." Then she turned to Nino and tugged on the strap of his bag, her expression coy. "Want to help me edit pictures while I work on copy? If I get done before my parents leave, I'll have some free time."

Nino smiled wolfishly back at her, and the couple waved absent-mindedly at their friends as they walked away, hand in hand.

Marinette smiled fondly at their backs, then turned to find that Adrien was regarding her with raised brows. "What do you say? Shall we find something to do this afternoon?"

A little of her old trepidation returned, and her breath caught. They'd never spent time together, just the two of them, before. She'd all but given up on him, but clearly still harbored some hope. She cleared her throat.

"Um, sure. Want to come back to the bakery with me? Papa had a ton of day-old stuff in the back. We could grab a snack, knock out what little homework we have, and figure something out from there."

"Actually, that sounds great. Do you want to take the car, or just walk?"

Marinette shifted uncomfortably. Adrien's driver/bodyguard was huge, and he'd always intimidated her. "Do you, um, mind walking? It's such a beautiful day…"

"Of course." He smiled. A lot of people were intimidated by his driver, and he knew Marinette was one of them. "Let me just go and tell him about the change in plans."

* * *

Adrien put down his pencil and reached for the last cookie on the tray. "Nathalie is going to have kittens if she finds out about this."

Marinette smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I forgot that they keep you on a pretty strict diet."

He started shaking his head well before she finished speaking. "God, don't apologize! These are amazing. I always forget how good the food is here."

"Thank you!" She beamed. "I'll tell Maman that you said so."

"Please do. And remind me, the next time my dad is looking for a caterer, that your parents do special events."

Her smile brightened further, and Adrien found himself seeing her in a way that he never had before. He took in the blue of her eyes, the curve of her surprisingly full mouth, and the way her dark hair was gathered to one side, falling over her shoulder in a dark wave, and everything seemed to shift for him, ever so slightly. He had always seen her, of course, but now he could _see_ her. As he watched, her smile fell and she drew her bottom lip in to bite it gently. The world shifted again.

"Adrien, is everything ok?"

He tore his gaze from her mouth, and back to her eyes. "Yeah! Um, yeah, why?"

"I don't know, you just got quiet all of a sudden, and… Do I have crumbs on my face?"

He laughed, glancing down at his now finished homework. "No! No, I was just thinking."

"Penny for your thoughts?"

His eyes flew back to hers, and she was surprised to see a faint blush tinge his cheeks. Her eyebrows rose.

"No, they're not worth even that much." He smiled, tapping his paper. "I'm done, are you?

"Yeah!" She pushed back her seat and stood, gathering her work. "Did you, um, want to go upstairs, maybe watch a movie? Or I have an Xbox up there, we could play a game."

"Yeah, I'd like that."

As Marinette led the way upstairs, she gave a mental sigh of relief that she'd put away all of her fangirl posters more than a year ago, and never got them back out. She didn't have that to worry about, at least. But— _Adrien Agreste_ was going to be in her room, which was unusual in and of itself. And this time, he was there without Alya and Nino there too, as a buffer. She thought of Alya's comment that morning, and giggled, wondering if perhaps they were in an alternate universe after all.

They'd just cleared the steps, and Adrien had just opened his mouth to ask about the giggle, when a large explosion nearby shook the building. Marinette was thrown off balance, and fell back against Adrien. Thankfully, he still had a hand on the railing; else they might have both gone down the stairs. They looked at one another with wide eyes, then went to the window together to see what might have happened.

There was nothing to see, at least from that angle. Whatever had happened, it must have been on the other side of the building. Marinette bit her lip again, knowing that it was probably an akuma, but absolutely clueless as to how she could get away to transform.

What she didn't know, is that Adrien was wondering the exact same thing. They spoke at the same time.

"I should go—"

"Maybe I should—"

They both stopped, looking at one another awkwardly.

"Ladies first."

"Oh, um, I need to go down and see if my parents are ok. You, um, you stay here, and I'll be back up soon, ok?"

He glanced at the window, then at the skylight, and his features eased. "Sure."

She smiled, then dashed to the bathroom downstairs. It wasn't ideal, but it would do. She closed the door behind her, and peered into her small, round purse.

"Tikki, spots on!"


	2. It's Coming Down

Adrien waited until he heard the door close downstairs, then carefully lowered the door in the floor. Plagg flew out of his special pocket in Adrien's shirt, and looked at his chosen thoughtfully.

"What is she going to think when she comes back to find I've mysteriously disappeared?"

The kwami shrugged. "I don't know. Worry about it later."

He glanced regretfully at the trapdoor. "I was actually having a really good time."

"Eh, quit whining. Don't you have somewhere to be?"

Adrien scowled. "Plagg, claws out!"

There was a flash of green light, and Chat Noir stood in the center of Marinette's room, twitching his tail. He looked regretfully at the trap door. "I'll just have to worry about it later," he muttered to himself. Then he was out through the skylight, and leaping his way toward the large column of smoke rising into the air.

There was a flash of red to his right, and he shifted his course to join Ladybug. She'd landed on a rooftop just ahead of him. He landed quietly by her side, and took in the scene before them.

They were still in Marinette's neighborhood, only a few streets over. Many of these buildings were older, and most, like the Dupain-Cheng bakery, had been renovated, or even restored. Not so with the burning building before them. It had been built of pale brick, but the color was now dull and streaked with grime. It had settled over a poor foundation, and seemed to be bent with age. Now, the lower left corner the building was just…gone, and what was left, was burning. Flames licked at much of the exposed interior, climbing ever higher through the structure. It looked like it had been an apartment complex, though thankfully, most of what they could see looked empty, abandoned.

Adrien saw all of this in an instant, and knowing that the police and fire department would see to the fire itself, turned his attention to looking for the akuma. But, he saw…nothing. No monster, no flamboyantly dressed villain.

"What the hell," he muttered. Akumas were usually not difficult to find. They called attention to themselves, creating chaos in a bid for retribution. He shifted his weight beneath him, preparing to leap from the roof to begin searching.

Beside him, Ladybug stiffened, and her hand flew to his thigh to stay him. "Look!" She pointed to the highest exposed floor of the building, where only the lowest part of the floor was visible. Above the gap in the wall, flames dances in the shattered windows. That floor was clearly buckling, and an ominous groan rumbled from the structure.

"Chat, it's going to come down!" She turned to him, her face pale and blue eyes wide. " _There's someone in there!_ "

Before he could even process her words, she'd leapt from their perch and swung to the collapsing building, broken out a window, and disappeared from view.

With a curse, he followed her. Inside, he found himself in a clean but shabby living room, with a kitchen off to one side and a hall leading off the other. An open door stood across from him, allowing tendrils of curling smoke to make their way into the room.

"Hello? Is there anyone here? Ladybug?" He ran to check the rooms up the hall, but they were empty. The apartment was deserted. In the kitchen, the paint had started to bubble with the heat behind it. "Damnit, Ladybug, where are you?" He muttered. Heart pounding, he ran out to the main hallway, coughing in the smoke that now billowed around him, and was blasted with a wall of heat on his left. Panicking now, he ran up the hall to the next apartment, crouching low and keeping as far to the right as he could.

"Ladybug! Ladybug, where are you?"

The door to the next apartment stood open as well, though this one had obviously been kicked in. The wall and floor gave way to nothing under the window across the room. He darted in, almost uncaring of the heat around him. "LADYBUG!"

"Chat! I'm here!"

Relief swept through him at the sound of her voice. She leapt through the flaming doorway into the main living area with a small child clinging to her neck in one arm, and an older woman slung over her other shoulder. She had sweat rolling down over her mask, and making tracks through the soot on her cheeks. He thought that she had never looked more beautiful.

She looked at him with a smile in her eyes, but it died as the building shuddered again. A large crack snaked its way across the floor between them, and they both froze. "Chat…"

There was a crash and a shower of sparks behind her. She flinched away, and the building groaned again.

"Milady, you have to keep going."

She nodded her head once, and took a single tentative step forward. The floor cracked again, and with a shudder, it began to cave.

For Adrien, time slowed to a crawl.

Ladybug leaped forward, desperate to gain ground before it fell from beneath her. She was hampered by the woman and the child, but knew that the child, at least, had a death grip on her. She released the girl to grab the yo-yo from her hip and fling it desperately to Chat as she felt herself begin to fall. He caught it, and used it to yank all three of them into his arms. They fell back through the doorway into the hall in a heap.

Chat Noir was the first on his feet. He took the unconscious woman from his Lady's shoulder, and pulled her up after him. "Come on, we have to move!"

She nodded, and followed him back the way they'd come at a dead run. There was a window at the end of the long hall, and without breaking his stride, he extended his staff through the window to break it out. When they reached it, he used his gloved fist to knock out the rest of the glass, and extended his staff to the ground. His partner knew what to do, and still clutching the girl, she slid to the ground fireman's style, to hold the staff while Chat did the same. The moment his feet touched the ground, he collapsed the staff and they continued running, this time toward the ambulances parked a safe distance away. As they ran, they heard it start to come down behind them. There was an enormous rumbling, and as it came down, another explosion went off. All four of them were thrown to the ground.

* * *

Marinette sat on a rooftop not far from the hive of activity, watching as Chat Noir finished speaking with the police about what had happened. She'd not lingered, once she'd been divested of her small burden and ascertained that the child was not seriously injured. She didn't even stop to check on the woman. She'd begun to tremble in earnest, and recognizing that she was in shock, wanted to remove herself before she fell apart.

Chat had called after her, but she ignored him. She felt guilty about that. Marinette knew he was worried about her and probably angry with her as well. But, he let her go, knowing she wouldn't go far. He watched until he saw where she settled, then turned to take care of things with the authorities—as Marinette knew that he would.

She needn't have worried about falling apart. Though she continued to tremble, she felt numb. She wondered, distantly, whether there had been anyone else in that building. They'd saved two people, but they can't have been the only two there. It was a large building. Marinette knew that later, she would be upset. Now, she was numb.

Her body was not numb, sad to say. Her suit had protected her, but it could only do so much. Now that the adrenaline was gone, she could feel every scrape, bruise, and burn. She was fairly certain that she'd cracked a few ribs when the floor caved, her lungs burned from the smoke, and Marinette knew that she was going to be sore all over the next day. Already it hurt just to breathe. She let her head drop back against the façade behind her, and closed her eyes.

That's how Adrien found her, not 10 minutes later. He landed lightly beside her, and was surprised that she didn't respond to his presence. Worry flared, temporarily stifling his anger. He sank down next to her, grateful to see her chest rise and fall as she breathed. But it was not an easy breath, and he realized that she'd been exposed to a lot more smoke than he had.

He reached his hand out, and ran the backs of his first two fingers down her cheek. "Bugaboo." She moaned, turning her face into his hand. "Milady, are you alright?" He dropped his hand to her shoulder and shook her gently. "Talk to me."

Her eyes flew open, and she sat forward, coughing and hissing with the movement. His worry grew. She glanced to him and away again, probably trying to decide whether she could get away with downplaying her injuries. His lips twitched.

"I'm trying really hard to be mad at you right now. You're crazy, you know that, right?"

She gave a humorless laugh, which turned into a cough. "Yeah, I know." Her voice was rough, scratchy. "What happened? Do they know yet what caused the initial explosion?"

"No. Well, except that it _wasn't_ an akuma."

"Hmm."

Adrien wished it had been an akuma, no matter how awful they are. If it had been, then they could have gone after it, and Ladybug's cleansing would have restored all to what it was before the akuma attacked. Now, he and Ladybug would have to heal the old fashioned way.

"Ladybug." He waited until her eyes returned to his. "How bad is it?"

"Bad enough." She grimaced. She'd been hurt before, but never outside of an akuma attack. It was going to be hard to hide this from her parents, or explain it away. Alya was going to be even more difficult. She sighed, and then hissed again when her tortured ribs protested.

"Damnit, woman, what the hell were you thinking?" His sharp words obviously surprised her, but her pain and his powerlessness to help made him angry.

"I was thinking that there was someone who needed help."

"Why didn't you let me go in first? Or at least wait so that we could go together? I can't protect you, if you won't let me!"

"Don't yell at me, Chat. We've been through this before. We're a team. We protect each other."

"Yes, we're a team. You're the brains, I'm the brawn. I'm supposed to the doing the dirty work. You—" His voice broke, and he paused, looking away. "This isn't supposed to happen to you."

Her face softened. "I'll be alright, Kitty." She turned his face back to hers, sliding her fingers along his jaw to stroke his check with her thumb. When his eyes met hers again, she was startled by the stricken look there. "I'll be alright."

His green eyes held hers for several beats, and he nodded. "Well, what are we going to do?"

She looked surprised. "Do?"

"Yeah, about you." He stood, and held his hand out for her to grasp. She braced herself, then allowed him to pull her to her feet. She whimpered, clinging to him for both balance and support. He steadied her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Just give me a sec, I'll be fine."

"You need my help, and you know it."

Marinette frowned. She knew that he was right, and hated it. As if to underscore his point, her earrings started to beep, letting her know that she'd be de-transforming soon.

"See? Let me help you, Milady. I'm a bit knocked around, but for the most part, I'm ok. You, you're not even going to make it home, let alone keep all of this from…everyone."

"No! You have to go. I'll figure something out. You can't know—"

"Bullshit!" Shaking his head, he pulled her closer to him, and extended his baton.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you."

"But—"

"No buts. If your kwami were able to say, what would she want you to do, right now?" She closed her mouth and stared at him mulishly. "That's what I thought. Your well-being is more important than our secrets. I'm sorry, Milady."

* * *

"Where are you taking me?"

Adrien glanced at the woman in his arms as he landed briefly on a rooftop, even though he couldn't see her face. "My house." He felt her stiffen against him, and shook his head again. " _Mon dieu_ , you are stubborn."

Marinette had her arms wrapped tightly around his neck; he had one arm wrapped tightly around her waist. The pressure was hurting her ribs, but she didn't care.

She was terrified.

Not of falling. Chat had carried her like this plenty of times. No, she was afraid of what would happen, once they were revealed to one another. So, even though she had another minute or two before she lost the mask, she had her face buried against his neck and she hadn't budged once since they began moving.

"We're here."

She felt the air change, noted it was warmer, and knew that they were inside. He walked a short distance with quick strides, then set her gently on her feet. He put his hands on her shoulders and tugged. "I know you're about to lose the mask, and I'm not going to be far behind you. This is the bathroom. I'm going to close you in here, so you can de-transform and shower." Ear earrings gave a final beep. "Hurry, let go!"

She released him, and he turned immediately to leave, closing the door behind him. No sooner had the latch clicked, than she felt her kwami leave her. Poor Tikki fell immediately to the floor, and Marinette fell to her knees beside her.

"Oh, Tikki, I am so sorry!" The little kwami was streaked with soot, and was so weak she could barely move. "I never should have stayed so long like that! I just didn't think, since we hadn't used the charm…" She gathered her tiny friend in shaking hands, placing a gentle kiss on her head. "I am so, so sorry!"

"Hush, Marinette. I will be ok. I just need a snack, and some sleep. I will recover before you do."

Marinette opened the cabinet next to her, and pulled out a hand towel to use as a little cushion for Tikki. She carefully laid her on the makeshift bed, and then climbed shakily to her feet. She'd just started to take in the large bathroom around her when she was startled by a knock.

"Milady?" Chat spoke through the door. "I—I brought cookies for your kwami. That's what she likes, right?"

"Uh, yes, actually. I'm surprised you remembered."

"I thought it might be handy to know, one of these days." He sounded sheepish. "Anyway, I also brought a phone, so that you can call, er, whoever you need to, to let them know that you're ok."

At this, Marinette staggered a bit, struck both by his thoughtfulness and her own idiocy. She'd completely forgotten that she'd need to call her parents, and what in the world must Adrien be thinking? She scoffed, shaking her head. Of all the days for this to happen, it had to be when Adrien was at her house.

"Ladybug? If you'll crack open the door, I'll pass these through to you."

She did as he asked, taking the things and closing the door again.

"Take as long as you need to. I'm going to go get cleaned up, in another bathroom. I won't hear anything you say on the phone so you'll be able to speak freely."

There was a pause, but she knew he hadn't left because she could hear him muttering on the other side of the door.

"Buginette, you're going to have to face me eventually, but…" He trailed off with a sigh. "I didn't want it to be this way. When I finally saw you, I wanted it to be—I don't know. Something else. But not this." He sighed again, and she heard movement against the door. He must have leaned against it.

"Th-Thank you, Chat. I, um, just…thank you."

"You're welcome, milady."

This time, she heard him move away from the door. She turned back to the large bathroom behind her, and took in the black tile and gleaming chrome fixtures. There was a large sunken bathtub on the right, and huge glass-walled shower on the far side. Clearly, Chat wasn't hurting for money. It all looked vaguely familiar, but she was too overwrought to give it any thought.

"First things, first," she murmured. She set the small plate of cookies on the counter next to Tikki, and roused the weary kwami. "It's snack time, Tikki." Her little friend smiled wanly, and sat up to eat her snack.

Satisfied that Tikki was eating, she sat on the closed toilet with the phone and started to dial, then lowered it again after punching in only a few numbers. "Tikki, what the hell am I going to tell them?"

Tikki regarded her quietly for a moment, chewing. Once she'd swallowed, she said simply, "Alya," and took another generous bite.

Marinette raised her brows, considering. Alya would certainly help her, but it would mean that she'd have to tell her friend far more than she ever intended to. Tikki, knowing the nosy blogger almost as well as she herself did, knew this and suggested it anyway. "Desperate times," she mumbled to the phone. She closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to do.

She canceled the previous numbers, and started over. The phone rang twice before Alya picked it up.

" _Hello_?"

"Hey, Alya, it's me."

" _GIRL!_ " Marinette pulled the phone away from her ear, wincing at the shriek. " _Where the hell are you_?"

"I'm safe. Listen, I need you to do me a favor."

Alya was quiet on the other end, calculating.

"I'm going to tell my parents that I am at your house tonight. I need you to corroborate the story."

" _You disappear from your parents' house, call me from a number that I don't recognize, give me zero information, and then ask me to lie to your parents for you. Is that right?_ "

She sighed. "Yeah, that about sums it up."

Another pause, and then, " _You sure you're safe? You're ok?_ "

"Yeah, I'm certain of it."

"Y _ou owe me for this, girl. You know you are going to have to spill it for me tomorrow._ "

Marinette smiled. "Oh, I know."

* * *

Adrien stood under the shower, letting the hot water sluice over his body, washing away the soot and the sweat of the afternoon. He wished that he could wash away the events of the afternoon just as easily. Ladybug had scared him before, but never like this. His heart had stuttered when she disappeared into that building, and again when the floor crumbled beneath her. She never gave a hint that she was injured; she kept pace with him like she always did. And it wasn't unusual for her to want an opportunity to process after a particularly hard fight. It wasn't until he found her sitting so still and so pale on the roof, that he had any idea. And then, for her to let her weakness show? For her to give in so easily, when he insisted on helping? That was not like her. At all.

He scrubbed his hands over his face, then reached for the soap. He couldn't remember the last time that a shower had felt so good. Once clean, he stepped out of the shower and wrapped himself in a hotel style terry cloth robe. He'd forgotten to take clothes with him, so he dropped his dirty clothes in the hamper—thankfully, none of the soot was on his civilian clothes, or he'd have a hard time explaining things to Nathalie—and padded back to his room in the robe.

The door to his own bathroom was still closed, the water still running. He tried not to think about the woman standing naked on the other side of that door, and focused instead on getting dressed and gathering everything he could think of, that she might need. He pulled on a pair of soft drawstring pants that rode low on his hips, and an old t-shirt. He called downstairs to let them know he was home, and to request a very generous dinner tray be sent up to his room. He knew she probably wouldn't want anything to eat, after the day's events, but he knew she'd need to.

That done, he went to his expansive walk-in closet and pulled down the old PS3 box from the back corner of the top shelf, and set it on his bed. He had a stash of first aid supplies in there that he'd smuggled into his room not long after getting his Miraculous, just in case he'd ever need it. And as it turned out, he had. Not often, but it had definitely come in handy over the last few years. But, never more handy than it would be that night.


	3. No Masks

**Hello readers! Thank you for the encouraging feedback, I appreciate it! This is just a note to let you know that I've updated this chapter to provide an explanation for Marinette's faint, which was unaddressed in the first version. Everything else should be the same, I think. Enjoy!**

 *****Edited April 22 to correct a minor flaw in the plot.**

 **Thank you for reading!**

* * *

It was dark, when Marinette finally left the bathroom.

She'd lingered in the shower, but not because it was particularly enjoyable. Taking a shower had _hurt_. Oh, the warm water was soothing on the sore muscles in her neck and upper back, which was nice. It was just that everything else hurt too much for her to appreciate it. She had a bizarre laceration all the way up her right side, and even the softest spray setting on the shower head had hurt like the dickens. The water had stung, and the soap that ran into it absolutely _burned_. Worse, she definitely had several broken ribs, and she was already turning black and blue all over. The motions necessary to wash her hair and clean her body had been an exercise in torture. At least she hadn't been badly burned. That was something, right?

She muddled her way through with gritted teeth, using the soap and shampoo that were already in there. The one bright spot had been to find that the smells had reminded her of Adrien. Even that, though, was double-edged. Thinking about him reminded her that she'd abandoned him in her bedroom, and never returned.

When she finally got out, she realized that she had absolutely nothing to put on other than the terrycloth robe that she found hanging just outside the shower. Her own clothes had gotten blood on them after she'd de-transformed, and would need to be thrown away. Unfortunately, the abrasion on her side was still oozing blood, and she knew that the robe would be ruined as well. There was nothing for it, though.

She found a comb in the drawer, and took the time to pull it through her hair. At this point, she knew she was stalling. Combing her hair _hurt_ , but it meant that she had a little more time in her sanctuary.

"Marinette."

The girl paused in pulling the comb through her hair and looked at her kwami.

"You…you do know, that I know who he is, right?"

"I'd never really thought about that before. Honestly, I think I've tried not to think about it at all."

Tikki, much restored after 3 whole cookies and a drink from the sink, floated over to rest in Marinette's hands. "I know you haven't. But, please trust me, Marinette. This is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay."

She considered the earnestness in Tikki's expression, and felt the corners of her own mouth tip up. "Ok, Tikki. I trust you."

Marinette stood, shook her long black hair our just a bit, and opened the ocket of her robe for Tikki. Then she flipped out the light with shaking fingers, and emerged from the bathroom.

Oddly, though, there were no lights lit in the room beyond, either. It was dark outside the large plate glass windows, and the only light in the room came from the moon.

"Milady."

She jumped when Chat's voice came to her from the other side of the room, wincing against the pain in her torso. She could just make out his shadowy form against the wall, as her eyes adjusted to the dark.

"I had some food brought up, but it's going to be hard to eat in the dark."

"It smells good." She fidgeted with the belt on her robe. "I um, didn't have anything to put on when I got out. Do you…?"

She heard his breath hitch. He cleared his throat. "Oh, yeah. I didn't think about that. Hang on."

She watched him move around in the dark.

"The bed is here. I'm leaving a few things for you on the corner, and I'm going to go stand in the closet while you get dressed. Let me know when to come out."

"Wait, Chat!" She grimaced, thinking about the still-oozing cut on her side. "It's not anything nice, is it? It might get blood on—"

"Blood? What…?"

"On my side. It's not bad, but, it's there."

"Don't worry about it, Bugaboo." He said gruffly, turning away from her again.

"If you're sure?"

"Yes, for God's sake, just get dressed! I need to look at you! I mean, not at you, but at your injuries. Why didn't you tell me you were bleeding?"

"I didn't know." She bent to pick up the pants, and gasped as the motion pulled painfully at her ribs. She sat on the edge of the bed, and pulled them up to her hips, using the drawstring to secure them there. "I guess the red of my suit masked it, and since my ribs are broken anyway—"

" _Merde!_ " He exploded, whirling around. "That is IT! I'm sorry, I am trying to be respectful of your privacy, but I can't do it anymore. You're hurt." He'd stomped over to the light switch, and flipped it on. Then he spun back toward the bed and stalked over to where she was struggling to pull her shirt on, both of them still blinking in the sudden light. He had one hand on her hip, and the other on her back, and was trying to turn her to the light. He was focused on her body, on the nasty bruising that mottled her flesh, and the ragged abrasion on her side. It wasn't until he registered her sharply indrawn breath that it connected, and his hands stilled.

They didn't have masks.

She could _see_ him.

And if he looked up, he could see her, too.

She was standing there with both arms in the sleeves of the shirt, but she had not yet pulled it over her head. The fabric hung across her front, shielding her breasts from his view. Slowly, heart pounding, he lifted his eyes. Up to her shoulder, her chin, over her mouth, and finally, _finally_ his eyes met hers, maskless, for the first time.

His world shifted, again, in much the same way that it had that afternoon in her house. But this time, it shifted—and settled, like a long-sought puzzle piece fitting into its place. "Marinette?" He whispered.

Her eyes were huge in her pale face, but he couldn't read them.

With shaking hands, he cupped her cheeks, pushing her still wet hair from her face. " _Mon dieu_ , Marinette. You're—you're Ladybug?"

She blinked, and nodded slowly, once. He drank in her features, memorizing them. " _You're_ my Ladybug." And this time, it wasn't a question. He was thrilled, elated even, that _this_ one was his lady. But, she still hadn't said anything. "Marinette?"

She lifted her hands and wrapped them around his wrists, but she didn't pull his hands away from her face. She gripped him, hard, and then her hands went slack and her eyes rolled back into her head.

* * *

The pain woke her. She felt like she'd been beaten, and it was hard to breathe against a heavy weight pressing into her side. She opened her eyes, and blinked in confusion. She didn't recognize the room, or the comforter spread under her body. She was laying on her left side, her knees bent up toward her body, her head pillowed on her left arm, and her right arm stretched out in front of her. She drew it back, curling her fingers into her palm. The painful pressure on her side eased.

"You're awake."

She flinched, startled less by his voice and more by the sudden return of memory. _Chat. Adrien!_ She felt the bed shift behind her, and Adrien came around to kneel by the bed, in front of her. She frowned, trying to remember how she got on the bed. "What happened?"

"You fainted."

"Fainted? I've never—"She tried to push herself up, but froze on a hiss. He pushed her gently back to the bed.

"Hold still, Bugaboo."

She growled softly in frustration. "Why would I faint?"

He shrugged. "Shock? I guess that between the trauma to your body and the shock of learning my identity pushed you over the edge." She was still frowning, but seemed to accept the explanation. It was the only thing that made sense. "How…" He stopped abruptly, and blew out a long breath. "How do you feel?"

She knew that was not what he wanted to ask. "I've felt better."

He gestured to her side. "I'm not sure how you did this. It's uglier than a cut. It looks like something was dragged hard along your side."

"I'm not sure either. Maybe when the building came down? I came down hard on that side."

"Can you sit up?" He held out his hand. "I've been holding a towel to your side, and bleeding has stopped, but we still need to wrap your ribs."

"Yeah, sure." She took his hand and gingerly moved to a sitting position. She gave him a wan smile. " _Merci_."

When he moved to sit behind her again, she found that the shirt was still half on, as it was before. She used one arm to try to keep it in place over her breasts while Adrien bound her torso. She tried, but it was almost impossible to keep herself covered when he got to the top. She felt her face flame, and shut her eyes in mortification.

Adrien tried, too. He tried to be clinical. He did his best to focus on what he was doing, not on where he was doing it, or who he was doing it to. But he couldn't help it. She was his Lady, the one he had loved for so long—and she was right there in front of him. His knuckles brushed the side of her breast, and his breath hitched.

Feeling him graze her skin, she stiffened, squeezing her eyes shut tighter. She didn't need to look in a mirror to know that her face was scarlet. Thankfully, though, he was almost finished. He secured the end of the gauze, then helped her pull the shirt over her head. While she tugged the hem down to her hips, he lifted her still-damp hair from under the shirt and let it fall to her back before she could reach up to do it herself.

He moved away briefly, and she heard the clink of glass on glass. He came back with a glass of water in one hand, and a bottle of Advil in the other. "I'm sorry that I don't have anything stronger. They should help at least a little, though."

Marinette smiled, and took them gratefully.

"Dinner is over there, on the coffee table. Are you hungry?"

"I am, actually. I didn't think I possibly could be um, after, you know, uh, everything. But, I am." She closed her eyes again, mentally kicking herself for regressing back to being a babbling idiot.

Adrien (Chat!) smiled warmly, and reached out to touch her, but his brow furrowed and he let his arm fall back to his side.

"Well, there's plenty here. Come on."

She stood carefully, and followed him to the couch. There were several covered trays spread over the table as well as a glass of juice and a pitcher of water. A ring of condensation on the tray showed that this is where the glass of what had come from. Adrien began to lift the covers from the food, and she found that there was an array of choices: all of it healthy, all of it likely organic and locally sourced, and all of it presented as if they were at a five star restaurant.

"What do you think?"

"It all looks amazing! I'm not sure I even know what all of it is."

He looked from the table to her face, and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "It's not quite hot anymore, I'm sorry."

"Stop, please!" She'd begun to reach for a croissant, the only thing that really appealed to her at the moment, but she moved her hand instead to his arm. "Please don't apologize. You must know that I am not comfortable w-with any of this! You've been so incredibly wonderful, and I d-don't deserve any of it. If anyone is owed an apology, it's you!"

He was staring at her hand on his arm, and when she realized it, she snatched it away as if burned. Her words finally seemed to register in his mind, and he shook his head. "Marinette, why would you think you don't deserve it?"

She just stared at him mutely, unable to put her jumbled thoughts into words. He shook his head again. "Eat something, Marinette. Please?"

She nodded, and reached again for the croissants.

They ate in silence, each too absorbed in their own thoughts to speak.

Marinette was still trying to process the fact that Adrien Agreste and Chat Noir were one in the same. She'd loved Adrien for so, so long! She thought of all the ways she'd tried to reach out to him, all the times she'd made a fool of herself in front of him. And Chat—he was a constant in her life, someone she trusted implicitly, with her life. They were friends, good friends, and when she thought of all the times she'd rebuffed Chat, all the times she'd pushed him away, she cringed in shame. She'd always assumed that he was only a flirt, that his advances didn't mean anything. But she'd never, ever seen Adrien interact like that with anyone else. Chat Noir either, for that matter. What did that mean?

And what did it even matter, now? Clearly, Adrien never had any interest in her as anything but a friend. He'd had plenty of opportunity to let her know if he felt otherwise. She was just someone to keep him company when they were with Alya and Nino. She was convenient, and that was all. Now that he knew that she was the girl behind the red mask, he must be disappointed. Why else would he be so stiff? She loved him, so _desperately_ , and now she'd lost him completely. Her easy relationships with both Adrien and Chat Noir were gone, and nothing would ever be the same.

* * *

Adrien, ironically, was thinking along those same lines—but in reverse. He'd long wanted to get to know Marinette better, but for the longest time, he'd thought she didn't even like him. She was always so stiff and awkward around him, and yet he would see her talking and joking freely with the other students. It had gotten better over the last year or so, but she still was nowhere near as relaxed around him as she was around Alya, and even Nino. He'd enjoyed spending time with her that afternoon, had even wondered why they hadn't done that before.

As Ladybug, she'd stolen his heart the day they'd met and he'd never looked back. Every time he saw her, every time they fought together, he'd fallen in love with her all over again. He loved her spirit, her agile mind, her quick temper, and oh dear god, her body! All of that fire was wrapped up in one neat, lithe package, and he knew, he just _knew_ that no one else could ever take her place in his heart.

He'd dreamed of the day that he would see the girl behind the mask, so that he could love all of her—and maybe, just maybe, she might see all of him and love him, too. But she'd seen him, and now, she could hardly look at him. For crying out loud, he'd made her _faint_. No, she didn't want him.

* * *

Tikki had left Marinette's pocket when she took off the robe, and had been forgotten entirely in all that happened next. Plagg, for his part, had been gorging on camembert on the dresser and had invited her to join him. They'd spent the intervening time catching up, and now sat watching their charges thoughtfully from a cushion on the bed.

Tikki sighed. "You know what they're doing, don't you?"

"Yeah, they're twisting themselves in knots, for absolutely no reason whatsoever." Plagg snickered. "How long do you think it will take them to getting around to finally talking?"

"Given that it took them two _years_ to drop the masks, who knows?"

"So long as they can still fight the akumas, and so long as lover boy over there keeps the camembert coming, I'm not sure I care."

She swatted his whisker. "Yes, you do. And so do I." She floated up from the cushion, and looked at him expectantly. "Come on, let's go put them out of their misery."

With a groan, Plagg downed the last of his camembert, and followed her to the couch.


	4. Talk

Adrien set down his plate of half-eaten food, and sat back against the couch with a sigh. He glanced at Marinette, who was busy picking apart the last little bit of her croissant. He ran his hands through his hair, then clasped his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. Where the hell did they go from there?

He felt a gentle touch on his cheek, and opened his eyes to see Marinette's kwami hovering near his face, a serene smile on her tiny face. Plagg, he saw, was searching the platters on the coffee table for cheese that he might pilfer.

"Why are you so sad, Adrien?" The red kwami asked him softly.

Marinette heard the question, and looked at them sharply.

He frowned, glancing at her again before returning his attention to the kwami. Kikki? No, Tikki. "I-I'm not. I'm just…drained," he finally responded.

The kwami shook her head, but it was Plagg who answered. "Yeah, right." He scoffed. "You've been whining about wanting to get her out of the mask for two years now, and now that you've done it, you're moping."

Tikki rolled her eyes at Plagg's blunt manner. "I'm sure you are drained, Adrien, but you're also sad. Desperately so." Here, she turned and drifted closer to her chosen. "And so are you, Marinette. Yet you both sit here in silence. You're still Ladybug and Chat Noir, with or without the masks. You're friends, _partners_. Knowing your identities should both bring you closer and make you stronger."

"It's like this, kid." Plagg belched, and flew up from the table to hover next to Tikki. "I have no problem letting you torture yourselves, but what happens the next time an akuma shows up? You'll be too twisted up to fight."

"Talk to each other. It'll all work out, you'll see." She floated back to Plagg and grabbed his paw. "Come on, let's give them space to talk."

"See you love birds later!" Plagg called with a wave as he allowed himself to be pulled away.

Both Adrien and Marinette stiffened, blushing furiously. Marinette returned to picking at her croissant with a vengeance, and Adrien sat forward to rest his forearms on his thighs and hang his hands between his knees. Again, they spoke at the same time.

"I, um—"

"I guess—"

Their eyes met, and then skittered away. Adrien cleared his throat, but kept his eyes on his hands.

"I'm sorry, Marinette. I know you didn't want me, or anyone else to know. But, it's not all bad, is it?" He glanced at her briefly. "We can help cover for each other now."

"That's true." Marinette sighed unhappily. "You should know, I am going to have to tell Alya, too."

Adrien looked at her sharply. "Alya? Why?"

"I had to ask her to help cover for me tonight. My parents think that I'm at her house. And you know Alya, she's not going to let it go until I tell her what's going on. She barely let it go tonight. She was worried."

"She's a good friend. I'm glad you have her."

Marinette smiled. "She _is_ a good friend. I only hope that she will forgive me for not telling her sooner. Ugh, and that she won't press me about _you_! She's going to know that something happened with us. She won't want to let that go, either." She dropped her head in her hands, and spoke through her fingers. "How am I going ever to explain _that_?"

* * *

Adrien was quiet for a moment, then sat back against the couch. "What did happen with us, Marinette?"

She dropped her hands from her face, and sat back, too, being careful not to move too quickly. She wrapped her arms around herself, the gesture subconsciously defensive. "I—I don't know, Adrien. I wish that I could be someone other than I am, someone you could want to work with. But I'm just, me."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I know you're disappointed! How could you not be—"

"Marinette—"

"—Your precious Ladybug has turned out to be clumsy, boring Marinette Dupain-Cheng!"

As she was speaking, he'd turned on the couch so that he was facing her, and laid his arm along the back. "What the _hell_ are you talking about, Marinette? Where did you get so many ridiculous ideas?"

She looked at him with wide eyes, taking in the angry expression on his face and the way he was leaning in toward her. She blinked in confusion. "I d-don't know. If you're not disappointed that I'm Ladybug, then why are you so upset?"

"Because you're disappointed that I am Chat Noir, and angry with me for forcing you to reveal yourself!"

"But I'm not angry with you, or disappointed! I'm afraid!" She snapped her mouth closed, not wanting to reveal more than that.

The anger in his expression had given way to surprise, then to something surprisingly tender. "What are you afraid of, Mari?"

Instead of answering, she tucked her legs under her body, and picked at the hem of her too-large t-shirt. Her fingers stilled when his much larger hand covered hers, and she saw that he'd moved from the couch to sit directly across from her on the coffee table. "What are you afraid of?" He asked again, more softly this time.

Marinette looked up, into the eyes of her partner. "That things will change," she finally answered, just as softly.

"Of course they will change. But I'm hoping that they will change for the better." He studied her face, and shook his head. "But that's not it, is it? You're not— Are you afraid of _me_?"

"No! Of course not."

"Then what is it?" He released her hands so that he could grip her shoulders. "Whatever it is, I will protect you—"

"I'm afraid that I will lose you! I'm afraid that you will never lo—" She cut herself off again, mortified by what she'd almost said.

He released her, surprised by her answer. "Marinette, you're not going to lose me. We're a team. We're friends. Why would that change?"

"Because I'm awkward and plain, and you only spend time with me because I'm, well, convenient when we're with Alya and Nino."

"Is that really how you see yourself?" He looked angry again. "You're wrong. You're beautiful, and amazing, and I don't understand how I never made the connection on my own. I'm ecstatic that you're my Ladybug."

* * *

Adrien saw the shock on her face and wondered how she could think so little of herself. Her blue eyes were opened wide, and her lips had parted in surprise. His gaze lingered on her mouth, and before he knew quite what he was doing, he'd taken her face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers. She stiffened, but didn't pull away. Taking that as a good sign, he moved his lips over her mouth in a gentle caress before pulling himself back to look at her face. She hadn't kissed him back.

"A-Adrien?" She pressed a shaking hand to her mouth, her eyes riveted to his.

"I've told you before, many times, that I love you. That has not changed."

"But, y-you love Ladybug not—"

"Yes, I love Ladybug, and _you_ are Ladybug." He took her hands in his again. "Ladybug is who she is because of the woman under the mask. How could I not love you?"

This time, it was Marinette who moved. Momentarily heedless of her injuries, she grabbed his head and kissed _him_. With a groan, he lashed his arms around her waist and pulled her body against his. She broke the kiss with a gasp, moving her hand defensively to her side.

" _Merde_ , Marinette, I am so sorry!" He moved his hands to her hips to steady her on the edge of the couch. "I completely forgot. Are you ok?"

"It's alright, _chaton_." She smiled. "I'm more than ok."

His eyes shot back to hers. "Y-you are?"

"Adrien, I have been in love with you since you gave me your umbrella, the first day we met." She laughed softly at his poleaxed expression.

"That's why you were always so weird around me, that first year?"

Marinette laughed again, looking away uncomfortably. "Yeah. I wanted nothing more than to talk to you, to get to know you, but I would get so nervous that my brain would turn to mush."

"That's actually really…sweet."

"Ugh, it was embarrassing." She dropped her face in her hands. "It _is_ embarrassing," she mumbled through her fingers.

"No! I thought it was because you still didn't like me, in spite of what I said to you that day in the rain. To know that it was the opposite, that you liked me too much, is…good."

Marinette peeked through her fingers, saw that he was smiling at her, and dropped her hands to sheepishly return the smile. "Maybe it's not so bad, then."

"But what about later? Once you got past being..."

"Awkwardly brain dead around you?" Marinette laughed again, and Adrien found that the low sound did something strange to his insides. "I was still shy," she continued. "You were this incredibly gorgeous teen model with fame and fortune and I was…just me. You never seemed interested in spending time with me outside of school, or hanging out with Nino and Alya. It never occurred to me that you might like it, if I tried to deepen the friendship."

"Why do you keep saying 'just me,' like it's a bad thing?"

"I'm nothing special, Adrien."

"But you _are_ special. You're kind, and clever and resourceful. You're amazing. I would have been glad to get to know you better, sooner. Think about today. I had a great time with you after school, before the fire, and I was disappointed that we were interrupted."

"Really?"

"Really." He smiled at her again, and his expression turned sly. "So you think I'm 'incredibly gorgeous', mi'lady?"

Her cheeks turned pink, and she shoved at his shoulder in protest, but she didn't retreat. "You know that you are, you vain cat."

He grinned. "But it's so much more sPAWcial, to hear it from you!"

"Mon dieu, Chat, does this mean that I will be hearing the puns at school now, too?" She grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and shoved it in his face. "I do love you, but the puns _still_ annoy me to pieces!"

His laughter died, and he clutched the pillow reflexively. "Did you mean it?"

"That I love you?" He nodded, and she smiled. It felt to him like the sun had just come out from behind a cloud, to warm him. "Yes, _chaton_ , I do."

"You kept pushing me away, as Chat Noir." He absently twisted the pillow in his hands, not even realizing that he still held it. "I knew that you—Ladybug—respected me as her partner, but that you only just tolerated me beyond that."

"Chat Noir is my friend, Adrien." He looked crestfallen at this, and she paused to draw a deep breath, wincing when doing so pulled at her ribs. She tugged the mangled pillow from his hands, tossed it aside, and gripped his hands firmly. "I _do_ respect him as my partner. I admire his abilities, and I trust him with my life. But, I was in love with _you_ , Adrien Agreste. I never took his flirting seriously. Until tonight, I loved him as a dear friend. Now that I know that _he_ is _you_ …" Her voice trailed off, and she shrugged. "I guess, my feelings for the two sides of you have…merged..." She noticed that his gaze had fallen to her mouth as she'd spoken, and remembering that he'd _kissed_ her the last time that had happened, she began to feel self-conscious. As she had a habit of doing when nervous, she bit lightly on her lower lip. His breath caught. "Chat?" He raised warm eyes to hers. "Adrien?"

"Marinette, can I kiss you again?" She nodded mutely, and watched in confusion as he stood from his place on the table. He did not release her hands. Rather, he used them to gently pull her to her feet in front of him, then slid his hands slowly up her arms to her shoulders, and from there to her chin. With his thumbs, he tipped her face up to his. "You are so beautiful, Marinette." He slid one hand into her hair, to cup the back of her head and draw her closer to him, while the other hand moved back to her shoulder. He kept his eyes on hers until the last possible moment, when they both surrendered to the kiss.

* * *

Marinette felt her blood thundering in her veins, and thought that surely, he must hear her heart pounding in her chest. Never mind that they had already kissed twice. Both of those had been quick, and unexpected. This was…different.

This was purposeful, deliberate.

This time, they were savoring the experience, memorizing it so that they could come back to it again and again. A delicious, languid heat had spread through her, and her skin tingled where he had touched her. She raised her hands to his hips as she began to sway forward, guided by his hand on the back of her head. Their lips touched once, fleetingly, and then again with more pressure. His lips were soft, yet firm against her own and she felt an incredible thrill to know that Adrien Agreste was kissing _her_. Not Ladybug, not the mask, or the hero. He was kissing Marinette Dupain-Cheng, because he _loved_ her. The knowledge made her feel both light-headed and bold. She flexed her fingers into his hips, anchoring herself against his body, and tentatively touched her tongue to his mouth.

He moaned, surprised and aroused by her response to his kiss. He parted his lips and deepened the kiss, too absorbed in the embrace to care that neither of them really knew what they were doing. His left hand left her shoulder, and moved to the small of her back, to pull her hard against him.

As before, she broke the kiss with a gasp, and staggered back.

" _Merde_ , Marinette—"

She put a hand over his mouth. "Sshh, chaton. I'm ok. It only startled me."

He nodded, and dropped his forehead to hers.

"It's probably just as well, Princess," he laughed breathlessly. "I might not have ever stopped, otherwise."

She laughed with him. "We couldn't have that, now could we?"

"Sadly, no." He straightened, but he didn't release her. "We'll have to go to school tomorrow."

Marinette groaned, dropping her forehead against his chest. "Oh, what are we going to do, Adrien?" She glanced at his bed, and blushed. "Am I, um, am I staying here tonight?"

He blushed, too. "You can, if you like. You could have the bed, I'd sleep on the couch, and we'd figure the rest out in the morning." She opened her mouth to argue, but before she could protest putting him out of his bed, he continued. "Or, Chat Noir could take you to Alya's house." She closed her mouth, considering. "I know how you hate to lie. If you go there, then what you told your parents wouldn't be a lie."

A relieved smile crossed her face, and he knew that she'd made up her mind.

"I'll just have to wait for another time to have you in my bed." He grinned at her stunned expression. "Plagg, claws out!"


	5. Explanations

Marinette watched in rapt fascination as the magic took Adrien in its green light, and left Chat Noir standing in his place. She'd never even seen herself transform; she was spellbound.

"Well, what do you think?"

His words broke the spell. She looked him over with a newly critical eye, and sat down on the edge of his bed with a groan. "I think that I'm an idiot. How did I never _see_ it before?"

"Don't be too hard on yourself, milady," he laughed. "I'm purr-etty sure that I was equally blind." She rolled her eyes at the pun, but didn't comment. His smile faded. "I guess I should get you to Alya's, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess. I don't even know what time it is. What if she's already asleep?"

He crossed to his desk and picked up his phone. "Here, you can text her."

Marinette took the phone, frowning. "If I do that, then I'm going to have to explain to her why I was texting from your phone at—" she paused to check the display on his phone "—at _midnight_ , on top of explaining that her best friend leads a secret double life. How am I going to do that without sharing your secret, too?"

"You're really going to tell her?"

"I don't see a way around it, do you?"

"No," he sighed, leaning against his desk and rubbing the back of his neck with a clawed hand. "I don't. At this point, you owe her the truth."

Marinette nodded her agreement. "So how do I explain texting from your phone, and then being dropped at her house by Chat Noir? It's going to take her approximately 2 seconds to put it together on her own, once she knows about me."

He shrugged. "Then tell her."

"She'll never be able to keep it from Nino."

"She won't have to. I'm going to tell him."

"But Chat—"

"No, it's time. I've wanted to share the secret from the beginning. Now that circumstances have more or less forced us to it, I'm not going to fight it."

She regarded him in silence for a while, and finally nodded. "Ok. We won't fight it. I just hope we won't come to regret it, later."

* * *

Chat Noir landed lightly on Alya's roof, where their friend was already waiting for them. He set Marinette carefully on her feet, before collapsing his baton and hooking it on his belt with a spinning flourish.

"Show off," Marinette muttered fondly. Before she could turn and greet Alya, her friend barreled into her and threw her arms around her. This time, she didn't just gasp. A strangled scream escaped her throat, and her vision darkened at the edges. Alya released her as if burned.

Chat grabbed her shoulders to steady her, hissing his displeasure. When he was sure she wasn't going to pass out again, he pulled her to his chest in a gentle hug and dropped a kiss on her head. "Damnit, Marinette," he said, speaking into her hair. "You didn't warn her?"

"I wasn't exactly expecting a flying tackle, Chat," she returned weakly.

Alya stood staring at the unlikely pair, frightened for her friend and confused by their behavior. "What the hell is going on? What's wrong with Marinette? And _girl_ , what are you wearing?"

Marinette pushed away from Chat Noir with a chuckle, and he reluctantly let her go. "It's a long story, Alya. I promise to explain, when we get inside."

Alya stared hard at her friend, then darted a glance at the costumed superhero. "You had better." She pointed at Chat. "Do I need to be mad at him?"

"No, Alya," she laughed tiredly. "Just give me a sec, ok?"

The young journalist nodded, though her expression remained fierce.

Marinette turned back to her partner, and pushed him back a few steps. "I'll see you tomorrow, right?" She asked him softly.

"You couldn't keep me away," he replied, just as softly. He leapt to the side and bowed theatrically, but instead of kissing her knuckles as he usually did, he flipped her hand to place a kiss in her palm. More loudly he said, "Until next time, Princess." With that, he extended his baton and jumped from the building, disappearing into the night.

Marinette watched him go with a small smile, then turned back to Alya, whose eyes were bugging out of her head. "What the _hell_ happened tonight?"

* * *

Inside, after going down the access stairs from the roof to Alya's apartment below, the two girls sat snuggled together on Alya's bed. The bed was in the far corner of the room, pushed up against both walls to leave as much room as possible for Alya's computer desk. Marinette sat propped against the head board; Alya sat with her back against the wall, Marinette's legs stretched out over hers. A single fuzzy blanket covered them both. They'd quietly made hot tea in the kitchen before retreating to Alya's room, and both girls were enjoying the warmth of their mugs on their chilled hands. It was edging toward fall, after all, and the nights had turned chill. Alya turned her head to study her friend, wondering what was going on behind her blue eyes.

"Alright, girl. I've been patient. Now spill."

Marinette took another long sip of her tea, and set it down on the night stand next to her. Where did she even start? The fire? No, best to get the big one out of the way first. She blew a breath out through her mouth, and ran the fingers of both hands through her hair, pulling it back from her face. Using a spare band from the nightstand, she pulled it back into a messy bun on top of her head. "Before I can tell you about tonight, there's something else I have to tell you." She glanced at Alya, who was regarding her with raised brows.

"Well?"

"I'm…I'm Ladybug."

Alya continued to stare at her for a few beats, and then a wide smile spread across her face. "Finally."

"I'm so sorry, Alya, I know you must be angry that I—wait, what?"

"It's about damn time that you got around to telling me!"

Marinette stared at her friend with her mouth hanging open, unable to process what she was hearing. " _What?_ " She finally screeched. "You _knew_?"

Alya shushed her, laughing. "I figured it out toward the end of last year. And then I spent a while feeling like an idiot, for not seeing it sooner."

Marinette scoffed. "I know the feeling," she muttered. At Alya's questioning look, she waved her hand dismissively. "Later. What I want to know is, why didn't you say anything?"

"When I found out?" At Marinette's nod, she continued. "Well, I knew that you must have had a good reason for keeping it a secret, and that when you were ready, you would tell me." She grinned again. "And now you have."

"Does Nino know?"

"No. It's not my secret to tell."

Marinette smiled at her, feeling grateful, and more than a little guilty. Clearly, she hadn't given her best friend enough credit.

"So, I'm really glad that you finally told me your deep dark secret, but now I want to know what happened tonight, that had you calling me from Adrien's house, texting me from his cell phone, and then showing up here, injured, with Chat Noir."

Marinette said nothing. She only looked at her expectantly, waiting for it to—

"OH MY GOD! Adrien is Chat Noir!"

"Sshhhh! Alya! Not so loud!" It was her turn to laugh, now. This was the reaction she'd been expecting before, and she was enjoying it. She was pretty sure that she was watching Alya's head explode, and she was suddenly sorry that she wasn't filming her reaction.

"You're not denying it. Oh. My. God. Adrien is—" She gasped, and it was obvious that something else had occurred to her. "But tonight, he—" (She gestured to Marinette's head.) "And you—ohmyGod, start _talking_ , Marinette!"

* * *

It took more than an hour to explain the day's events to Alya's satisfaction, and even then, Marinette had left out a few rather significant details. By that time, though, it was nearly three in the morning, and Marinette knew that waking up would be rough. There would be time later to tell Alya about kissing Adrien— _after_ she'd had time to process it, herself.

The morning went just the way Marinette predicted. They overslept, and then had to race to try to make it to the school on time. Since she'd shown up to Alya's in Adrien's clothes the night before, she had to borrow something from Alya's closet and they didn't quite fit. This meant that they had to go by Marinette's house on the way, so that she could dress in her own things. They were well and truly late, at that point, and Marinette flew up the stairs as quickly as she could with broken ribs and sore muscles that had gone stiff overnight. Changing clothes was painfully difficult on her own, but she managed. She snatched her school bag from her desk, several croissants from the bakery, and called a belated greeting to her parents as she flew out the door.

Class had already started when they arrived, so they slipped into the room as unobtrusively as possible, with only little waves for Nino and Adrien. Thankfully, Mme Bustier didn't comment on their late arrival. She was well acquainted with Marinette's frequent tardiness, and ignored it as long as her class wasn't interrupted. She continued with her lecture, and Marinette pulled out her books with a sigh of relief.

* * *

When their teacher was through with her lecture and had set them to some group discussion work, Adrien took the opportunity to study Marinette surreptitiously. She was still pale, and judging by the purple smudges beneath her beautiful eyes, was utterly exhausted. He didn't know how long the girls had stayed up the night before, but he felt sure that she'd have been better served by getting some rest, rather than sating Alya's curiosity. Couldn't she have waited? It occurred to him, for about the hundredth time, that he should not have suggested taking her to Alya's house. If she had stayed with him, he could have—

"Hey! Earth to Adrien! Are you in there, dude?"

He jerked his startled gaze to Nino, who was looking at him oddly. "What?"

Nino grinned. "You haven't heard a word we've said, have you?"

"Uh, no. Sorry." He cleared his throat awkwardly, trying to avoid two pairs of keen hazel eyes, and more importantly, one pair of exhausted blue ones. "So. What were we talking about?"

"Uh-uh, no way man," Nino replied, crossing his arms stubbornly over his chest. "What's with you today?"

Alya grinned, aware of Adrien's discomfort and thrilled to now be two steps ahead of Nino. "Hey, cut him some slack." She bumped his shoulder with hers. "We have work to do, you can grill him later."

Nino turned to her in surprise. "Who are you, and what have you done with my girlfriend?"

Her only response was to push his book closer to him with a laugh. "We're supposed to be discussing Descartes. Let's discuss."

* * *

At lunch, it was even more difficult to put Nino off, but put him off they did. Adrien was looking forward to finally being able to confide in his best friend, but no way was he going to try to do it at school. Unfortunately, Nino wasn't exactly on board with being put off. On top of that, he wanted to talk to Marinette even more than he wanted to talk to Nino, and that wasn't going to happen either. Alya had gone into mother hen mode, and was fussing over Marinette so much that Adrien could hardly even get near her. Finally, towards the end of lunch, Adrien's patience snapped.

"Nino, stop! Yes, something is 'up'; no, I am not going to tell you about it now; and yes, you _are_ going to have to wait until after school to find out. No more questions." He turned to Alya, and pointed. "You and I will be switching seats when we get back to class. No arguments."

Surprised into temporary silence, they both nodded. Marinette giggled. He flashed her a smile, and finished his meal in peace.

* * *

Marinette was quietly thrilled that Adrien had demanded to sit next to her. She hadn't been able to talk to him at all that morning, because she had gotten there so late. It had left her plenty of time to agonize over the events of the last evening, and to wonder what would happen next. They were still partners, she knew that without question. She also knew that they had worked through enough last night that, her present injuries aside, they could fight together without any problems. But, beyond that? Friends? Yeah. More than friends? Probably? She was pretty sure that kissing the way they had meant that they were more than friends.

Somewhere in her mind, the part of her that still fan-girled over Adrien Agreste squealed with glee, and she giggled. Ms. Mendeleiev scowled at the interruption, but didn't pause her lecture to chastise her. She really ought to be paying attention; physics was _not_ her strong suit, and the last thing she needed was to fall behind on the second day. But her body hurt, in a way that made her appreciate the magic of her Miraculous as she never had before. Agonizing and fan-girling were both welcome distractions from that. She stifled another giggle.

Adrien, whose attention had been on Marinette from the moment she'd walked in, gave in to the temptation. "What's so funny?" he whispered close to her ear.

Her cheeks pinkened. "N-nothing!" she whispered back.

"You're blushing! Were you thinking about me?"

"Adrien!" She poked him in the ribs. "Stop it. You're going to get us in trouble."

"It's worth it, to make you smile." Her blush deepened, but he got his smile. He straightened with a grin.

* * *

By the end of the day, all four of the friends were itching to get out the door. Rather than stopping to talk in the classroom, as they usually did, they gathered their things and made their way outside. Nino and Alya, who were the first out the door, stopped to wait for Adrien and Marinette at the foot of the school steps. Nino frowned, watching as Marinette made her careful way down, Adrien staying close beside her. "Did she get hurt?"

"Yeah, last night." Alya sounded subdued. Alya was never subdued.

"What the hell happened?" He asked, alarmed now.

She shook her head at him, then spoke to Marinette, who had almost reached them. "Why don't we go back to your house, Mari? It's closest, and we can talk there."

Marinette nodded gratefully. "There's a bottle of Advil there with my name on it."

"Come on, my driver can take all of us." Adrien led the way to the Agreste car, and spoke briefly with his driver. Then he gestured for everyone to climb in.

The trip was quick, and mercifully quiet. The car pulled up in front of the Dupain-Cheng bakery, let them all out, and then pulled smoothly back into traffic.

Once inside, they all trooped up to the apartment above, followed by Marinette's mom. Sabine Dupain-Cheng was a small, sweet woman who loved to have visitors and loved even more to stuff them full of delicious food. None of Marinette's friends had ever complained before, and that day was no different. If Nino chafed at the delay in finally getting some answers, he was polite enough to take it out on his macarons, and no one else. Finally Sabine tired of making chit chat with them, and came around the table to drop a kiss on Marinette's cheek, before going back down to help her husband in the bakery.

Marinette stood. "Come on guys, we can go to my room." The others nodded, and followed her up. Alya sat in her desk chair, Nino threw himself into a beanbag chair, and Marinette made a beeline for her chaise. Adrien, knowing that she spotlight was his, felt too restless to sit. He perched for a moment on the chaise with Marinette, but stood again almost immediately, and began to pace.

Nino watched his friend stalk across the room, then looked at each of the girls. They shrugged, and he looked back at Adrien. "Dude, would someone _please_ tell me what is going on?"


	6. Take Care of Her

**Hey guys! Thank you for reading, and for continuing to leave feedback. It helps!**

 **I am utterly enchanted with these characters, and I just can't leave them alone. I probably will not always update this quickly, but so long as the muse stays with me, I might as well continue to share. Enjoy!**

 **Fair warning: things get a little bit heated for Adrienette in this chapter. I think it still falls within the T rating, but if I escalate further in a later chapter, I'll have to upgrade it to an M rating. Thoughts?**

* * *

Nino took the news rather well, all things considered. He did get angry at first, not because Adrien had kept it a secret, but because he thought that they were playing some kind of trick on him. He'd belligerently demanded to be told the 'real truth' until an exasperated Plagg had flown out of his hidden pocket and gotten in Nino's face. Literally. Apparently, an irate kwami was enough to do the trick, because after that, Nino had leaned around the tiny cat to look at Adrien, and said, "I'm listening."

Alya had pointed at the kwami, saying, "We'll come back to this later."

After that, it went remarkably well. Nino accepted without question that Adrien couldn't have said anything sooner, and waved off Adrien's apology. "Hey man, I've read plenty of comic books. I get it." And that was that.

When they dropped their second bomb, Nino had just looked back and forth between Adrien and Marinette a few times, and then smacked himself in the head. "I am such an _idiot_ ," he'd mumbled. Then he'd lifted his head, looked at Marinette, and said, "So that's how you got hurt."

This segued nicely into an explanation of recent events. Marinette had held her breath when Adrien got to the part where they went to his house, but he made the same omissions that she had. He got all the way to the part where he'd arrived with Marinette on the roof of Alya's building, when the blogger chimed in.

"You should have seen them, Nino, the way they were all over each other! You'd never know that Mari had ever been shy around him. It was adorable!"

"Alya!" Marinette exclaimed, blushing hotly. "We were not 'all over each other'." She threw a pillow at Alya's head, wincing when the movement pulled at her ribs.

"Yeah, you were, and it totally was!"

Marinette rolled her eyes and took over the narration. "Once he left, we went downstairs, made tea, and I explained everything to Alya."

"Not everything," Alya said, frowning. "What's with the flying rodent?"

Plagg, who had been sitting on Adrien's shoulder, was indignant. "Excuse me, I am a _cat_. You know, as in _Chat Noir_? Hello!"

Adrien chuckled, and gestured to the kwami. "This is Plagg. He's the one who turns me into Chat Noir."

"Right on."

"Really?" Alya watched him curiously. "How? Mari didn't say anything last night about how she transforms." She looked at Marinette. "Do you have a plagg too?"

Marinette giggled. "I do, but her name is Tikki, not Plagg. They're called kwamis." She opened her little purse and Tikki flew out, grinning.

"Hi! It's so wonderful to finally meet you all! I feel as if I already know you, from spending so much time with Marinette."

"Well, aren't you precious?!" Alya squealed, holding her hand out for the red kwami to land. "Marinette, how you can you keep this poor thing cooped up in your purse all the time?"

"You think that's bad? This guy keeps me in a tiny pocket."

"Hush, Plagg." Tikki and Adrien both rolled their eyes at the complaint, but it was Tikki who'd spoken. "You can phase out of there any time you want, the same as I can phase out of Marinette's purse if I chose to. You just like to complain."

Adrien looked at Marinette. "I like her," he said, pointing at Tikki.

Tikki beamed.

Plagg scowled. "Enough gabbing. What's a cat got to do to get some cheese around here?"

Adrien groaned. "You already ate everything that I brought with me today. You're going to just have to wait until we get home."

"Adrien, I think we have some brie downstairs. Would he—"

"Brie! I _love_ brie!" Plagg bounced excitedly. "It's no camembert, but it's up there!"

Marinette giggled at his enthusiasm, and nodded. "I'll go look." But when she tried to rise from the chaise, she found a large hand on her shoulder, pressing her down. She looked from the hand to the arm it was attached to, and up to Adrien's face.

"I'll get it Mari. You stay there."

She nodded gratefully, and dropped her head back against the arm of the chaise.

Alya watched the exchange excitedly, waiting only until the trap door closed behind Adrien to squeal.

Marinette didn't even open her eyes. She'd been waiting for it. "Stop it, Alya."

"What?" She whined. "How am I not gonna be excited to see my best friend finally get together with her long-time crush?"

"Even I'm kind of geeking out over here," Nino added. (Unhelpfully, in Marinette's opinion.)

She blushed again, and this time, she did lift her head to look at Alya. "W-we're not _together_ , Alya. We're…" She trailed off, unsure how to finish her sentence.

"Uh-huh. Exactly." Alya crossed her arms over her chest, smirking. Then she tilted her head, looking curious. "Wait, how are _you_ not over the moon right now?"

Marinette dropped her head back to the chaise. "Honestly, I'm still trying to process all of this. And I am so _tired_. I—" She cut herself off as the trapdoor opened, and Adrien returned with the package of brie. "Oh, good. We did have some. I thought so."

Plagg flew back out of his pocket and snatched the cheese from Adrien's hand. "Mine!" He called, flying to the nightstand with his prize.

"Uh, you're welcome!" Adrien said, to his retreating back. Plagg ignored him, and started downing the cheese. Adrien turned back to his friends. "Ugh. That cat is a pig."

Tikki giggled. "He's always been that way."

"How did you get the nice kwami, Mari?"

"Just lucky, I guess." She smiled warmly at Tikki, who beamed in return.

Alya stood, and reached a hand to Nino.

"Are you leaving?" Marinette asked.

"Are we leaving?" Echoed Nino.

"Yeah. You look bushed, girl." With Nino on his feet, Alya moved to stand by the chaise and took her friend's hand. She squeezed it. "Now that Nino's not about to combust, we're going to head out, and give you a chance to take it easy."

Marinette squeezed back with a smile. "Thank you."

Alya released Marinette's hand, and turned to jab a finger into Adrien's chest. "And _you_ are going to stay here and make sure she's ok."

"Alya!" Marinette spluttered.

Adrien laughed. "I was already planning on it."

"Good," Alya nodded in approval. "Ciao!"

"Later, man!"

They disappeared through the trapdoor, and were gone.

They were alone.

Despite having been looking forward to this very thing all day, Adrien found himself wishing that their friends would come back. Now what? He looked at Marinette, who was watching him with a faint blush staining her cheeks.

"So, what now?" she asked.

"I make sure that you're ok, like Alya said." He grinned. "I don't think I want to get on her bad side."

"No," Marinette laughed. "I don't think you do."

And just like that, the sudden awkwardness between them had vanished.

"Here, let me see." He'd knelt on the floor next to the chaise, and gestured to her side.

Marinette's eyes widened comically. " _See?_ "

"Well, someone has to check on all of that. It looks like that someone is me."

"I am going to _kill_ Alya."

"No, you won't. I'd have insisted on it, regardless, Bugaboo."

"Oh, fine. Just, turn around for a moment, ok?"

Adrien turned, and tried to ignore the soft rustling sounds behind him, as well as the grunts and hisses. Undressing was clearly painful, but those sounds still made him shift uncomfortably.

"Adrien?"

"Ready?"

"I guess so."

He turned back to her, and saw that she'd removed both her shirt and her bra. She was sitting on the chaise with her back to him, carefully holding her shirt over her breasts. There were faint lines marring her flesh, just above the wrapping, where her bra had been, and he itched to trace those lines with his fingertips. Instead, he reached for the tail of the bandage and began to unwind it.

"I did some reading on rib fractures, after I left you with Alya last night." The task was surprisingly erotic; he spoke mostly to distract himself from it. "I should have gotten you some ice, as soon as we got to my house. And we shouldn't have wrapped this."

"No?"

"No. That was common practice at one time, but now, they say it's better to leave them unbound."

"Oops."

"Mm-hmm. Also, while you're healing, you should either cough or take a deep breath at least once an hour, to keep your lungs from collapsing."

They lapsed back into a charged silence, each of them hyper-aware of the other. Marinette felt every brush of his fingertips against her skin down to her very toes. She tortured herself by wondering what it would feel like if he touched his lips to her instead. His hand brushed her side, and she shivered at the contact.

Adrien tortured himself by forcing himself to continue unwinding the bandage, as clinically as possible. This was even worse than it had been the night before, when the immediacy of his worry had overridden everything else. Even the angry bruising that spread over much of her torso was not enough to distract him. As more and more of her smooth skin was revealed, he decided that perhaps he had made a grave tactical error. It would have been safer to allow Alya to do this, after all. But, it was too late to change things, and— _Dieu merci_ —he was almost finished. He tugged the last of the bandage away, and threw it into her wastebasket.

"Here, turn toward the light." His voice was gruff, and he winced at the sound of it. "I need to see."

Marinette shifted closer to the window, and he gritted his teeth at the sight of her battered body. The ragged scrape on her side was still covered with gauze, and he carefully peeled it away to peer at it, grateful that it hadn't stuck.

It wasn't pretty. The broken skin was red and slightly swollen, and still seeping blood in places. It looked almost like a skinned knee, or road rash. Whatever she'd landed on had abraded her skin through her suit, from her hip to just below her breast. At least the abrasions weren't deep. He cursed, and she turned to look at him from the corner of her eye.

"That bad, huh?"

"Bad enough." The soiled gauze followed the bandage into the trash, and he pulled fresh supplies from his bag.

Marinette looked at him in surprise. "You came prepared!"

"Of course," he said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for him to carry first aid supplies in his school bag. He pulled out a small box of latex gloves, and frowned. "I should have done this first."

"You're really not messing around."

He shrugged, glancing at her face for a moment. "I want you to be ok." Once he had a pair of gloves on his hands, he pulled a new sheet of gauze from its sterile packaging, and spread a layer of antibiotic ointment on its surface. Then he pressed it carefully to Marinette's side. "Here, hold this for a minute."

She shifted to hold her shirt in place with one arm, and reached across herself to hold the gauze with the other.

He pulled a roll of medical tape from his bag, and set about taping the gauze in place. Once he'd secured the top, Marinette moved her hand out of the way, and returned it to holding her shirt. When he was finished, his hands lingered over smoothing the tape, and he fought the urge to let them wander. With a sigh, he stripped the gloves from his hands, and tossed them into the trash, along with the wrapper from the gauze. Then the supplies went back into his bag.

When he looked back at Marinette, he saw that she had turned to face him, but had not put her shirt back on. She was still clutching it to her chest.

"Do you need help getting that back on? I promise not to look."

She blushed, and he fully expected her to say no.

She surprised him.

"S-sure." With one hand, she awkwardly tugged the shirt away from her body, trying to do so without moving her arms from their strategic position.

His gaze on hers, he rose up on his knees in front of her, just between her knees, and stilled her fingers with his. He pulled the shirt away from her, and without breaking eye contact, he began to turn it, in order to pull it over hear head.

Adrien was acutely aware of her sitting in front of him, completely nude from the waist up. He could just see the curves of her breasts in his peripheral vision. He kept his eyes locked on hers, though, and if his hands shook as he lifted the shirt over her head, she didn't notice. He tugged it gently down over her head, and pulled them hem all the way to her hips while she slid her arms through the sleeves.

Somehow, this experience was even more sensual than unwrapping the bandage had been. The air was thick with tension. Adrien's hands had settled there on her hips, and her hands hovered in the air between them for a moment. Then she was on him, her fingers sunk into his hair on either side of his head, and her mouth moving hungrily on his.

He kissed her back, licking at the seam of her lips with his tongue. She opened to him on a gasp, and he deepened the kiss. His fingers flexed on her hips, and he sat back on his heels, pulling her from the edge of the chaise and onto his lap, so that she straddled him. Their new position brought their bodies flush together, her body soft where his was hard. He gasped at the contact, and Marinette moaned his name against his mouth.

She moved her mouth from his, and began to kiss her way across his jaw and down his throat. When she reached the juncture where his neck met his shoulder, she nipped him gently with her teeth.

" _Mon dieu_ , Marinette." He slid his hands from her hips to the small of her back, and up under her shirt to the naked skin that he had so wanted to touch earlier. One hand slid around to her waist on the opposite side, and the other he moved straight up her back to urge her away from his neck and back to his mouth. He kissed her again, wildly. His hands seemed to have minds of their own, roaming over her back, down to backside, and then up again. When one hand moved between them to palm her breast through her shirt, she broke the kiss on a gasp.

"Adrien! Adrien, stop." She placed her hands on either side of his neck, and pulled his forehead to hers. "We have to stop."

They were both breathing heavily, both fighting the haze of passion that had claimed them.

For Adrien, with sanity came shame. He groaned, wrapping his arms around her back and burying his face in her neck. " _Dieu_ , Marinette, I am so sorry! I didn't—"

"Don't!" She sat back from him, forcing him to look at her. "Don't you dare apologize. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I never meant—"

"What if I did?" She smiled, and her bold expression was 100% Ladybug. She stroked his cheek with her thumb. "I have wanted that for a very long time, Adrien Agreste. Perhaps I ought to apologize to you?"

He laughed, the low sound making her belly flutter. "Never. I've wanted that for a long time, too. I was just too dense to realize that it was you I wanted."

She smiled brightly, and dipped her head to kiss him gently. "I love you, you know."

"And I love you." He laughed again, thinking that he could get used to this—all of it—very quickly. "So, does this mean that we're together now?"

Her smile widened. "Yes, I think it does."

* * *

 **I have posted an alternate version of this scene at the end, in which she does not tell him to stop and things become more heated. If you'd like to see some naughty Adrienette, the alternate version can be found here: s/12420930/1/**

 **As always, thank you for reading!**


	7. Only Fourteen

Elodie Martin was exhausted. She'd been exhausted even before this, but then, working two full-time jobs will do that to a woman. But this…this was a new kind of exhaustion. She'd not slept a wink in nearly 48 hours, and her body was so far beyond tired that she was numb. Leaning away for the bed, she scrubbed her hands over her face and thought back over the last day.

She'd just finished her shift at the café, and had been happy to head home. She'd taken the metro, as usual, so she had no warning. Upon climbing to the sidewalk, she'd seen smoke rising beyond the buildings before her and she'd known, she'd just _known_ that something was terribly wrong, even before she'd rounded the corner at the end of the street to find that her apartment building was little more than rubble and ash.

After that, her memories were disjointed. She didn't remember running to the nearest police officer, but she remembered grabbing him by the collar. She didn't remember screaming her questions in his face, but she remembered the look in his eyes when he realized that she had lived in the ruined building. And she didn't remember being escorted to the police station, but she remembered with crystal clarity being told that only two people had been rescued from the building before it came down—and that neither of them was her Julien.

The next several hours were no more than a blur of misery as she'd waited for the rescue team to search the ruined building for her son. Hope and despair had warred in her mind, rendering her incapable of sleep in spite of her exhaustion. Finally, in the small hours of the morning, they'd found him, alive, but badly injured and barely conscious. He'd been partially crushed, and suffered a severe trauma to the head.

After hours and hours of desperate surgery, he'd been installed in this room, in the intensive care unit. Now she kept a weary vigil by his side. She fingered the necklace at her throat, gripping the trinket he'd given her as if in holding it, she might hold on to him. She sighed. His hold on life was tenuous, but she was hopeful that he would pull through.

Hope was all that she had left.

* * *

Adrien spent the rest of the evening at her house. After their kiss, he'd gone down to the kitchen alone to let her put her bra back on. That had chafed, knowing that it would be painful for her to do it on her own, but he had known better than to offer. She'd joined him after only a few minutes, having changed entirely into a thin, slouchy pink sweater that hung off of one shoulder, and a pair of comfortable charcoal grey leggings. It was clear that she'd dressed for comfort, but given his still-elevated blood pressure, she looked entirely too enticing.

They'd settled at the dining table to do homework, just as they had after school the day before. So much had changed that it was hard to believe that only 24 hours had passed. Neither said it, but they both thought it.

They'd spent about an hour, working on their assignments in companionable silence, when Sabine had bustled into the room with a stack of dinner plates. "Oh! Adrien, you're still here. I thought you'd left with Alya."

"Nope, still here." Adrien put down his pencil, and started packing his things away. "But I'll go now, and get out of your way."

"Nonsense." She started setting the table as Marinette, too, began to put her things away. "Stay and have dinner with us. We have plenty, and you kids can finish your homework afterward. I'll just go and grab another plate," she said, and with that, she bustled right back to the kitchen.

Marinette had blushed lightly at her mother's reference to them as 'kids', but she was used to it. She tossed her bag over the back of the couch, and looked at Adrien. "Stay?"

He smiled, and tossed his bag next to hers. "Just let me make a quick call, to let Nathalie know."

Ostensibly, the rest of the evening passed unremarkably. They had dinner, they finished their homework, and Adrien called his driver back to get him. But both heroes were exceptionally happy through almost all of it, which was remarkable indeed.

The evening's news cast the only shadow over their joy. The follow-up coverage of the explosion and building collapse revealed that someone else had been in the building, after all. Adrien felt guilt clutch at his heart, and looked at Marinette, whose stricken gaze was riveted to the screen. He nudged her shoulder, drawing her gaze to him. He said nothing, just squeezed her hand, but she seemed to understand him. _It's not your fault_. She gave him a watery smile, and squeezed back. _I know._

It was sometime later that she walked him down the stairs to the side door, where Gorilla would be picking him up. He paused on the steps, and tugged her around to face him. "Are you ok, Mari?"

She closed her eyes, and leaned her forehead against his chest to hide her trembling lip. "He's only fourteen, Adrien."

"We did the best we could. We didn't know he was there, and we didn't have time to search." She sniffled, and despite knowing what he would see, he tipped her face to his. Her tear filled eyes shone in the lights from the street, and his heart lurched to see her so upset. "Those two people are alive and well, thanks to you, my lady. And he's alive, Mari. He could make it."

"I-I know. But he was—and his poor mother!" Her tears began to fall in earnest, and she dropped her face into her hands.

" _Merde_ , Mari." He pulled her to him in a gentle hug, resting his chin on her head. "I know. I feel the same. We just have to hope for the best." They stood like that for several minutes, until the shine of headlights outside told them that his ride had arrived. He reluctantly released her. "Will you be ok? Do you…do you want me to come back? Later?"

His question was tentatively offered, as if he was still unsure of his reception. She smiled at him, warmed by his obvious care for her. Still, she shook her head. "As much as I would love that, _chaton_ , I think we would both be better served to get a good night's rest."

"You're right." He blew out a breath. "I guess I'd better get out there. See you in the morning?"

"Yeah." She stood on tiptoe, and pressed a gentle kiss to his mouth. "Goodnight, kitty."

"Good night, my lady."

Adrien slid into the car with a Cheshire grin on his face, and he was still wearing it when they pulled into the circular drive in front of Agreste Mansion. His taciturn driver never said a word, but privately, he felt that whoever she was, this girl must be a very good thing for his young charge.

* * *

The next morning, Marinette _did_ get up with her first alarm. Or at least, she came awake with the first alarm.

Initially, she'd hit the snooze, and had snuggled back down into her pillow when memories of the preceding evening floated to the surface and her eyes flew open. Unable to restrain herself, she shrieked happily into her pillow, finally giving in to a bit of fan-girling. Then she flopped to her back, mentally kicked herself for forgetting her sore ribs _again_ , and stared at the ceiling, reliving The Kiss. It had been wonderful, and she was already looking forward to doing it again. Maybe on patrol that night? She'd have to take it easy, of course, but she could still go. If nothing else, they both ought to put in an appearance. They'd both skipped patrol the night before, and it wouldn't do for Hawkmoth to believe they were out of commission.

Even though, technically, she was.

She frowned. What if there was an akuma before she was back in fighting form? They'd be seriously handicapped, until she recovered. How was it that this was only occurring to her now? She sighed, and shoved the covers away in disgust. Some superhero, she thought. She learns one little secret, and she gets completely de-railed.

"Oh Marinette, you're doing it again, aren't you?"

Marinette glanced over at Tikki, who was munching on her morning cookie. "Doing what?"

"Over-thinking, and probably feeling guilty for something that isn't your fault."

Marinette spluttered a laugh. "No!"

"You were!" Tikki laughed. "What this time?"

"Ok, I was." Her smile faded. "What if there's an akuma before I recover? Chat can't do it without me."

Tikki frowned as well. "I don't know, Marinette. We'd figure something out. For now, don't borrow trouble, ok?"

Marinette nodded, recognizing the wisdom of her words. Following that advice, though, would not be so easy. How could she _not_ worry?

"Mar-in-ette! You're still fretting." She flew to her chosen, and hugged her cheek. "It'll be ok, I promise! Think about Adrien instead. Today will be your first day in class with a _boyfriend_."

That did it, Tikki saw with satisfaction. Marinette went about getting ready for school in a dreamy haze, thoroughly shocking her parents when she made her way downstairs early enough to sit and have breakfast at home. She collected a couple of pastries, and went back upstairs to enjoy it in peace.

She was finishing up her coffee when there was a knock at the door, and Adrien poked his head in. "Hello?"

"Adrien?" Marinette set her cup down, watching as he crossed to the table. "What are you doing here?"

"Your _maman_ told me you were actually up and ready early, but I didn't believe them. I had to come see for myself." He leaned down to press a kiss to her mouth. "She told me to let myself in, I hope you don't mind."

She smiled. "Not at all. But what are you doing here, at my house?"

"I thought you might like a ride to school, until you're feeling better." He patted the bag slung across his shoulder, blushing a bit. "And, we should probably check your bandage," he said, dropping his voice a bit.

Remembering what happened the last time he did that, Marinette blushed, too. She nodded. "I didn't think to look at it this morning. But, it was a bit easier to get dressed this morning than it was last night."

"That's good!"

Marinette nodded again, more enthusiastically this time, and stood carefully. "Yeah, tell me about it. I keep forgetting to be careful. It's not pleasant." She rinsed her coffee mug in the sink, and headed up the stairs to her room.

This time, it wasn't necessary to raise her shirt up quite so high, and she made it a point to keep herself as covered as possible. She felt a bit self-conscious after yesterday, despite—or perhaps because of—her bravado at the time. Besides, she thought with a giggle, it wouldn't do to have a repeat performance right before school. Then they'd both be late.

Adrien quirked an eyebrow at her curiously, wondering what had prompted the giggle. A fresh blush bloomed on her cheeks, but she just shook her head. He shrugged, deciding that if she didn't want to tell him, that it was probably best to just let it go. "I saw a news update on the way over this morning. He's still alive, but still critical."

She nodded soberly, absorbing this news, but said nothing. That was probably for the best, too.

He finished taping the new gauze in place, and tugged her shirt down to cover it. "You, um, might want to change your shirt, or something. I can see some of the bruising above the neckline in the back."

Marinette's eyes widened, and she nodded again, this time thankfully. "The last thing I need is for someone to start asking questions. Meet you downstairs?" He nodded and left through the trap door, and she whirled to find something with a high neckline.

* * *

Nino and Alya were already there when they pulled up in Adrien's car. He got out first, then took her hand to help her out of the vehicle. He let her hand go long enough to settle her bag carefully over her shoulder, then reclaimed her hand and they walked together to join Nino and Alya, who were watching them avidly.

Marinette, who had begun to worry about how they should act around one another at school while in the car, was thrilled by his willingness to hold her hand. It was tantamount to a public declaration, and it made her feel warm and fuzzy. Unfortunately, not everyone felt the same. They were waylaid en route by a furious Chloe Bourgeois, who'd shown no inclination to grow out of being a spoiled rotten brat. Marinette groaned, and Adrien squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Just what do you think you are doing, holding hands with _my_ Adrikins?"

"He is not your anything, Chloe." Marinette's temper ignited at a slow burn.

"Of course he is," she flipped her hair over her shoulder and placed a perfectly manicured hand _just so_ on her cocked hip. "Just because I missed the first day doesn't mean you can move in and take what is mine."

She felt her temper kick up a notch. "He's a human being. He belongs to no one."

Adrien, who had been watching the exchange with an amused look on his face, grinned wolfishly at his new girlfriend. "Oh, I don't know, Marinette. I think I might like belonging to you."

Marinette blushed, and Chloe gasped in outrage. "Adrikins! How could you? She is so far beneath you—"

"Enough!" All traces of amusement had vanished from his face, and he wore a look now that no one had seen on his face before. Chloe took an involuntary step back. "I'm only going to say this once, Chloe, so pay attention. I am not now, nor have I ever been, more than your friend. If ever you insult my _girlfriend_ again, then I will not even be that. I have put up with your nonsense for long enough. It ends now. Have I made myself clear?"

"B-but, Adrikins—"

"My name is Adrien, Chloe. Not 'Adrikins'. As long as we've known each other, and as many time as I've asked you not to call me that, I can't help wondering why you still do." He sidestepped the blonde, tugging a stunned Marinette along with him.

Nino was grinning from ear to ear, and Alya was practically vibrating with excitement when they reached them. "That. Was. Amazing!" She waved her phone in excitement. "I wasn't fast enough to get a video, but I got an awesome shot of her face!"

"Adrien, bro, I didn't know you had it in you!"

"She's had that coming for a long time." He shrugged uncomfortably, and rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. "I probably shouldn't have shut her down publicly, but I kind of lost it. I just hope she doesn't take it out on someone else."

"You know she will." Marinette frowned at where Chloe was now ranting to Sabrina. "Alya, don't post that picture. It would just make things worse."

"Ugh, girl, you are no fun!"

Marinette smirked. "You can send it to me. I might not want to humiliate her further, but I'm not above gloating privately."

The four of them laughed, and headed in to class together.

* * *

By the time that the last bell rang that morning, the news that Adrien Agreste had claimed Marinette as his girlfriend had made it through their whole class. By lunch time, it was all over the school. Adrien was used to the scrutiny, but Marinette was not. She had acquired instant celebrity status, and everyone, absolutely everyone, suddenly wanted to talk to her. Some just wanted to meet the girl who had not only turned the head of the most popular guy in the school, but had done so in such a way as to inspire him to take on Chloe Bourgeois. Others wanted to ask obnoxiously intrusive questions, and still others found it necessary to challenge whether she "deserved" to be with him.

When lunch did roll around, it was a relief to escape to the nearby park for a picnic. A few other students had ventured out that way as well, but none of them were brave enough to disregard three unwelcoming glares to get to her. After the third first-year student abruptly redirected her steps, Adrien threw down his napkin, and looked at Marinette sheepishly. "I'm so sorry, Mari. I didn't realize that this would put you in the lime light."

Marinette surprised him by laughing. "It's not your fault, and the novelty will wear off soon. Besides…" She darted a look at Nino and Alya, and blushed. "It's worth it."

Alya grinned. "You guys are going to give me a toothache."

Nino rolled his eyes. "Quit acting like you're not eating this up." He turned to Adrien. "She's been trying to get you two together for more than two years now."

"Guilty," Alya returned, smirking.

"That's funny, you don't look terribly guilty." Nino deadpanned.

Marinette laughed. "She said 'guilty', not 'remorseful'."

"Well, it worked didn't it? We left you alone last night, and boom! Here you are."

The new couple shared a smile. "Actually, no," Adrien said, looking at Alya teasingly. "I was determined to see her alone regardless, even if I had to go back incognito. You just made it easy for me."

"Why you, ungrateful little—ugh!"

Nino groaned. "Come on man, couldn't you just let her have it?"

"What happened to wanting to stay on her good side?"

Adrien lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles, a devilish glint in his eye. "My lady will protect me."

"Not if you go around waving red flags in front of bulls, you ridiculous cat," she returned, blushing at the heat in his gaze.

Alya frowned. "I don't think I appreciate that comparison."

The others just laughed.

* * *

In the still, quiet room, two people slept, but neither slept well. One was curled uncomfortably in a cheap recliner, the thin hospital blanket doing little to warm her. The other lay stretched on the bed, his young body struggling to function in spite of the terrible trauma it had experienced. His body fought, but ultimately, it failed. His heart staggered, and his lungs ceased to draw breath.

A shrill alarm sounded in the room, and in the nurses' station. Elodie was startled awake by the sound, but her sleep-deprived brain couldn't process what was happening. She watched, bewildered, as the hospital staff flooded into the room, and then with growing horror as her mind began to make sense of what she saw. She shrieked, an inhuman sound of raw grief, and lunged for the bed, desperate to hold her child. One of the nurses grabbed her and hauled her back, but she was not to be deterred. Another nurse came into the room, and together, the two hauled the still-shrieking woman out of the room.

* * *

Marinette's body ached horribly, Chloe's voice had been even more shrill than usual, and Mme. Mendeleiev was in the process of handing out a brutal homework assignment, but none of it could put a damper on her mood. Adrien had taken up permanent residence in the seat beside her, and had been in almost constant contact with her all day. At that moment, he seemed to be dutifully taking notes, but under their desk he'd hooked his ankle around hers and was absently rubbing the side of his foot against hers. There was nothing terribly intimate about it; they were both wearing shoes after all. But he couldn't seem to stop touching her, and it was adorable.

Chat had always been openly affectionate with her, and she'd grown comfortable with it over the years. They would sometimes find a perch after patrol, and sit draped over one another while they talked. She'd discovered that he loved for her to gently scratch his scalp and play with his hair, and further, that she enjoyed doing it. It was relaxing for both of them. It was a normal part of their interactions, and she no longer thought twice about it. But she'd never seen Adrien interact like that with anyone. Chloe would try to hang on him, but he'd always looked so uncomfortable until he was able to disengage himself that Marinette had never even tried. She hadn't wanted to invade his space.

As it turned out, though, Adrien was just as affectionate as Chat. Of course he was also affectionate, they were the same person! Marinette giggled, and Adrien looked at her curiously. "Tell you later," she mouthed to him silently, with a nod to their sour-tempered teacher. He nodded and returned his attention to his notes.

She studied his profile, and felt her smile fade. It made a lot of sense, actually. Knowing what she did about Adrien's home life, she was certain that simple human contact was something that he didn't often experience. It was something that she took for granted: her mother's habit of kissing her forehead every time she walked by her at the table, her father's tendency to tug on one of her pig tails whenever he said goodbye, hugs, snuggling on the couch in front of the TV… It was a regular part of her life, but it was apparently something that Adrien had enjoyed only as Chat, and only with her.

Now that they'd found each other, the habit had bled over into their civilian lives. Over the course of the day, if he hadn't been holding her hand, he'd found some other way to touch her. A hand at the small of her back while they walked, a leg pressed against hers, an arm across the back of her chair as they listened to a lecture…an ankle hooked around hers. Each little touch had thrilled her, and after a whole day of it, she was wound tight.

She'd given up on paying attention about an hour earlier. Thank goodness that Adrien had been taking notes, because she hadn't been able to focus at all even before she gave up on it. She glanced anxiously at the clock for the umpteenth time, and saw that her wait was almost over.

Finally!


	8. La Mort Noire

**In which there is an akuma.**

* * *

"So, what are you lovebirds going to do this afternoon?"

Class had ended, and the four friends were making their way out of the school. At Alya's question, Marinette missed a step and nearly tumbled down the stairs to the courtyard, but Adrien steadied her. "No plans, yet," he responded easily. "What about you and Nino?"

"Same. _Maman_ doesn't need my help this afternoon, though, so I could actually do something, but we have all of that stupid homework."

"The physics homework is going to be a nightmare, for sure." Nino shuddered dramatically before continuing, his eyes on Adrien as the group crossed the courtyard. "You're the only one who has a handle on that, dude. Care to enlighten the rest of us?"

Adrien chuckled, slipping his hand into Marinette's. "Sure." He looked at Marinette questioningly. "Mari?"

She nodded, smiling. "We can go to my house again. It's close, there's room, and there's food."

The others agreed, and piled into the Agreste car once again. They chatted easily in the car, and their banter continued as they made their way upstairs to the apartment above the bakery. Marinette had just reached for the door knob when it was opened from the inside, her father's large form filling the entire doorway.

"Oh thank God, Marinette." He pulled her into a painfully tight hug, and she suppressed a groan as her battered body protested. "Come in, all of you come in."

He stood aside and they filed in. Sabine sat curled on the couch, a tight expression on her pale face. Across from her, the TV was on, showing some sort of special news coverage.

"Maman, what is it?"

Adrien had his eyes on the screen. "An akuma?"

"Yes," Sabine said, glancing at the TV. "She's been drifting around the city for a few hours now, and at first they didn't think she was doing anything. But people have started dying, randomly, all over Paris, and there's been no sign of Ladybug or Chat Noir. It's awful!"

The four friends shared a look, and Marinette sat on the couch to pull her mother into a hug. "It'll be ok, Maman." She released her mother, and squeezed her hands. "I'm sure that they will turn up soon. They've never let us down before, have they?"

"I hope you're right," Tom said, worried eyes on the TV screen. "I hope you're right."

Adrien cleared his throat. "We should probably get started on our homework. You know, Mendeleiev won't care whether there's an akuma or not."

"Of course, you kids can work at the table—"

"NO!"

It had come from four mouths simultaneously, and Tom and Sabine looked between them in confusion. "It's ok, Maman, we will work in my room. The er, TV will distract us if we stay down here."

Her parents still looked confused, but nodded their acquiescence. "Just let us know if you kids need anything," Tom called after them as they headed up the steps to Marinette's loft bedroom.

Nino was the last one up, and he lowered the trap door quietly behind himself. As soon as it was shut, both heroes called for their transformations, relieved that they no long had to hide it from their best friends.

"Whoa."

Ladybug giggled at their friends' twin looks of amazement, and Chat Noir brought a hand to the back of his neck, smiling awkwardly. "Ta da?"

"Dude, that is insane."

"Yeah, I mean, knowing it was one thing. But seeing it? Oh man, I wish I could post a video of that to the Ladyblog." Both heroes widened their eyes, and Ladybug opened her mouth to object. Alya rushed to continue, waving her hands in front of her. "No, no! I won't! I know I can't, and I really don't want to out you guys, but _girl_ , you know it would be the ultimate scoop if I could!"

Ladybug nodded, a relieved smile on her face. She darted a glance to her partner, expecting him to share her amusement, and then looked at him again when his unusually somber expression registered. "Chat?"

"Are you sure you're up for this?"

"I don't have much choice, do I?"

Alya and Nino were looking between them with furrowed brows. "Marinette, just how badly were you hurt the other night?"

Chat arched an eyebrow at Ladybug. "You _still_ didn't tell her?"

She had the grace to blush. "It's possible that I might have understated matters, just a bit," she admitted, her finger and thumb held up with only a centimeter between them.

He shifted his attention to his other friends. "She has at least two broken ribs, and a nasty abrasion all the way up her side. The rest of her is just one big bruise." They both paled, and he nodded in satisfaction. "Yeah." He turned back to Ladybug, and took her hands in his. "Sit this one out, milady. Let me handle it."

"No!" She yanked her hands away, and put them on her hips. "I will not let you go alone. We're a team, we go together. Besides, you can't purify the akuma. I have to be there."

He closed his eyes in resigned frustration. He could continue to argue, but he knew he wouldn't win. Unless he was willing to physically restrain her, and he wasn't, there was no point. "You're sure?" He felt a hand on his cheek, and opened his eyes to find her regarding him steadily.

"Yes, _chaton_ , I'm sure."

He took her hand from his cheek and squeezed it. "Well then, shall we?"

"Let's get this over with." She turned back to her still-pale friends. "Can you cover for us?"

Alya arched a brow. "You think you have to ask?"

"Thanks, guys. We'll be back as soon as we can." Ladybug turned to climb to the skylight, but turned when Alya called her name.

"Don't think I'm letting you off the hook for not telling me about the ribs."

Lady bug smiled. "I would never."

* * *

In the living room below, Tom and Sabine watched pensively as they pair swung away from the house. Sabine turned to her husband, her concern writ plainly on her face. "They'll be ok, won't they?"

"I'm sure they'll be fine, dear. Like Mari said, they've never let us down before." He engulfed his tiny wife in a hug, and dropped a kiss on her head. "Don't you think it's cute, that they think we don't know?"

Sabine chuckled softly, her expression resigned. "It would be adorable, if I wasn't so worried about them."

* * *

Though she was careful not to let it show, Ladybug took that first swing from her balcony with quite a bit of trepidation. To her mingled surprise and relief, though, it was not as difficult or as painful as she'd feared. The magic of the suit must be doing quite a bit to compensate for her injuries, and she made a mental note to thank Tikki later. She would need to be careful, but the task before her was a lot less daunting now that it had been.

Ahead of her, she saw Chat drop to a random rooftop and stay put. As she landed beside him, he pulled out his staff and brought up the small screen. "Trying to get an idea of where to go?"

"Yeah." He tapped the map on the tiny screen. "It looks like the most recent sightings have been re- _purr_ -ted near the Tower."

"Really? Now?" He grinned unrepentantly, and she rolled her eyes. "To the Tower, then."

"After you, Bugaboo," he said with a flourishing bow, and his trademark smirk.

She grinned back at him, as she started to swing her yoyo in preparation for her next leap. "That's my _chaton_." Then she was off, with her partner following right behind.

Travel by roof-top was quick, and it took them only a matter of minutes to reach the Eiffel Tower. Ladybug found a perch high on the structure; Chat joined her there only moments later, and together, they observed the chaos surrounding the _Trocadéro_.

Police cars and barricades spread out in the street, between the _Fontaine_ and the _Pont d'léna_. More police formed a perimeter around the whole _Fontaine du_ _Trocadéro_ , where the eerie akuma floated several feet above the water. They were too far away to make out much detail, but she looked like a wraith, with white hair and a long, ragged, black hooded shift hanging loosely from her frame.

"What's she doing?"

"I don't know. She's just hovering there." Chat looked at his partner. "Should we get closer? Or rush in while we have the element of surprise?"

Ladybug shook her head. "I don't like this."

"Closer, then?"

"Yeah, come on."

They made their way down the Tower and joined the thronged police who were ranged in front of the _Trocadéro._ Chat spotted Officer Raincomprix near the barricades, and nudged his partner, indicating with his head to follow.

Raincomprix's eyes fell on them as they approached and relief cascaded over his features. "We were starting to think that you wouldn't make it."

Ladybug grimaced. "We came as soon as we could."

"What's the situation?" Chat asked curtly, his eyebrow arched in irritation at the implied criticism.

"She calls herself _La Mort Noire_ , and we think we've finally figured out her MO. Nothing happens to the people she attacks, and at first we thought she was harmless. But then people started dropping dead all over the city. Apparently, when she attacks one person, the effects hit someone else, someone that they love."

All three turned to look at the dark akuma. From here, Chat could see that her skin was sallow grey, and stretched tightly over her bones. Her sunken eyes were closed, and her face held no expression. She had a mass of white hair that was partially covered by the tattered black hood of her cloak, but long wisps of the ratty hair floated around her face. Her arms hung limply by her sides, her fingertips barely visible below her long, loose sleeves. The shapeless, dark grey shift fell well below her feet, the ragged, gauzy fabric drifting around her in the rising wind. He looked up, and saw that dark clouds were gathering ominously above her, casting everything in shadow. _The Black Death_. His sense of unease deepened.

"She's been there for half an hour now. She demanded your presence, and retribution for her son's death. She's been hovering there silently ever since, just, waiting."

The two heroes looked at each other in confusion. "She blames us?"

"Apparently."

Ladybug looked again at the eerie figure, her brow furrowed in thought, and Chat stepped close behind her. "Where is the akuma, do you think?"

"No idea," she replied, shrugging. "It could be something in one of her hands, it could be a piece of jewelry—something around her neck or wrist, or in her hair. We'll have to get closer."

"How do you—"

" _I SSSEE YOU THERE_." The wraith-like figure drifted forward, her milky white eyes now open, and all around her people tensed, reaching for weapons. Ladybug and Chat Noir both went on the defensive, regarding her warily as she stopped at the edge of the fountain. " _WHY DO YOU LINGER? I HAVE COME FOR YOU. FACSSSSE ME._ "

Her voice was sibilant and brittle, like the rustling of dry leaves. It wasn't loud, and yet it surrounded them, pressing in on them from all sides. Ladybug shivered.

"Why have you come? What do you want?"

Instead of replying, she wailed, a banshee-like shriek that had everyone covering their ears, and flew toward a knot of police on the street. Most of them stumbled out of the way, but one tripped and fell on his backside, his face stark with terror. She dove at him, and passed _through_ him, drawing an agonized keening from his throat.

She rose to hover above the man, facing the heroes once again. "I WANT VENGEANCSSE! MY HEART ISSS GONE, SO I WILL TAKE YOURSSS!" Her words bled into another shriek, and she dove again, scattering the police ranged around the fountain.

Ladybug rounded on Raincomprix. "Is _that_ her attack?"

He nodded at her, face pale.

" _Merde_. Chat, how do we fight _that_?"

"I don't know, but we'd better figure it out quick." His eyes widened, focused on something beyond her. "Look out!"

They each dove out of the way, and rolled to their feet. Ladybug looped her yoyo around a beam on the Tower, and used it to launch herself in that direction. Chat immediately followed suit, both of them hoping to draw her after them.

"Well, my lady," Chat said, vaulting down from the Tower and landing on a rooftop across the way. "The good news is…that she's following us…rather than attacking…anyone else."

Ladybug glanced at her partner, who was keeping pace beside her, and speaking between panted breaths. "Okay…what's the bad news?"

"The bad news…is that now…she's _following us_!"

"I got that part, thanks!"

"Do you have a plan?"

"I'm working on it!"

"Lucky Charm?"

"Not yet, we need to know… where the akuma is!"

"I think I do!" He glanced behind them, and seeing that they had a decent lead, pointed to an alley. "Down there!"

Ladybug followed him to the alley, where they ducked into a building through the employee entrance. "You know where it is?" She whispered, holding on to his belt as he made his way through an empty restaurant kitchen. All of the appliances were off, but there was food in varying stages of preparation all over the room. Someone had apparently evacuated the restaurant.

"Yeah, I think so." They passed into the dining room, and crept toward the entrance. "I saw a necklace or something on her when she rushed us. It looked like it was holding her cloak in place."

"How are we going to get it from her?" They peered out the door, but thanks to a garnet-colored awning, they couldn't see the sky. Chat muttered a curse, and she continued as if he hadn't spoken. "Even if we could get that close to her, won't we just pass right through her?"

"I don't know, Love Bug." He put his hand on the lock to release it, but stopped when he heard her gasp.

"I have an idea! Come on." She grabbed his hand, and pulled him to a large storage closet she'd noticed at the back of the restaurant. On the way, she grabbed a hunk of cheese and a dish of partially-torched crème brulee. "In here." She flipped on the light switch, then closed the door.

Chat smirked. "You know, when I called you 'love bug,' I didn't mean it literally."

Ladybug rolled her eyes, and released her transformation. Without the suit, she felt the renewed pain in her side, and sagged against a shelf. Apparently, it was too soon for her to be swinging around Paris after all.

Tikki put a paw to her chosen's face. "Are you ok, Marinette?"

"Yeah, I'm good." She gestured vaguely to Chat's body. "You, too Chat."

When he had released his transformation as well, she pointed to the snacks she'd grabbed. "I know they're not your preferred treats, but it's better than nothing." Tikki brightened at the sight of the sweet custard, and dipped her paw into the dish, but Plagg grumbled.

"Parmesean? Seriously?"

Marinette gave him a look that said quite clearly what she thought of his grumbling, then turned to Adrien, who was watching her in bemusement. "Ok, you know how the kwamis can phase through things when they want to, but only when they want to?"

His eyes lit. "So maybe it's the same for _Mort Noire_."

"Exactly." They both regarded the kwamis expectantly. "What do you think? Is she like you? Or is she really like a ghost?"

"No way." Plagg shook his head emphatically. "Nooroo isn't powerful enough to change the state of a living being like that. Their form? Yes. But not the substance."

"Nooroo? Is that Hawkmoth's kwami?"

Tikki nodded in answer to Adrien's question. "But he _could_ give a physical being the ability to temporarily pass through things, like we do."

"So," Marinette began excitedly. "What can you tell us about phasing?"

The two tiny beings shared a look. "Not much, unfortunately," Tikki began. "It's something that we do have to _will_ to happen, but not something that we have to really think about doing."

"Yeah, it's kind of like moving your body." Plagg paused to throw another hunk of cheese in his mouth before continuing. "You don't think about the muscles and tendons involved, you just….do it."

"Damn," Marinette said, deflating.

Adrien tilted his head thoughtfully. "Is there a way to keep you from doing it?"

"We can't phase when we're weak, or unconscious."

"So we could knock her out?"

"Mm-hmm. We also can't phase when we are too cold. But, it has to be really, really cold to hinder us."

Marinette hummed pensively. "I think we can work with that. Are you guys ready?"

Tikki cleaned the last of the custard from her paws, and nodded. "The sooner you defeat her, the better."

"Eh, I suppose so." Plagg threw the rest of the cheese into his mouth. "Whenever you're ready, kid."

The two heroes recalled their transformation, and the little kwamis disappeared into their Miraculouses.

* * *

Chat Noir crouched in the shadows behind the billboard, his back wedged against the rise of the building behind him, and watched as Ladybug lured _La Mort Noire_ into position. It was, somewhat ironically, one of his father's ads, though not one with his face on it. He shifted anxiously on the balls of his feet, trying to keep them in view through the gap below the sign.

He didn't like this plan. For one thing, it was just as likely to kill the akuma victim as it was to render her unconscious. Ladybug didn't like it either, but had pointed out that even if it did kill the akuma, the cleansing would bring her back. Mostly, though, he hated for Ladybug to use herself as the bait. Unfortunately, _she_ couldn't drop this sign on the akuma, so she had to be the one out there.

He cringed as _La Mort Noire_ dove for Ladybug, sinking into the street where his partner had stood bare seconds earlier.

" _COME BACK, LITTLE BUG_ , _AND PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!_ "

Ladybug landed on the flat rooftop in front of the sign, and began swinging her yoyo lazily. "I still have no idea what you're talking about." She turned her back on the akuma, and began walking across the rooftop to the far side. "But if you want me, come and get me!" She called over her shoulder.

Their prey slowed, looking around herself warily. She clearly suspected some sort of trap, but couldn't see it. She focused again on Ladybug and continued on.

"Come on, come on!" He muttered almost inaudibly, clenching his jaw. There! He called for his Cataclysm in a whisper, watching as the black and green motes gathered around his hand. He placed that hand at the juncture where several of the support beams came together, and watched as the rust and corrosion ate away at the metal. Then he stood, and _shoved_ at the top of the sign. It creaked, and Ladybug launched her yoyo at the supports, striking them at their weakest point, so that it began to tip forward with a loud screeching groan.

La Mort Noire whirled at Ladybug's movement, her milky white eyes widening as she saw the billboard coming down on her head. Rather than flying away, as they'd feared she might, she cowered, throwing her arms over her face with another of those otherworldly shrieks.

There was a loud, reverberating crash as the sign landed on the rooftop, and Chat held his breath, to see if it had worked.

A dry rasping chuckle filled the air around them, and with a sinking heart, he realized that their ploy had failed.

As the dust cleared, he saw the akuma hovering above the downed sign, and Ladybug crouched on the far side, slipping quietly behind a wide chimney stack.

" _THERE YOU ARE, YOU WORTHLESSS CAT. I'D WONDERED WHERE YOU'D SSSLUNK OFF TO_."

He growled, extending his baton into a staff, and adopting an aggressive stance.

" _WHAT DID YOU TWO HOPE TO ACCOMPLISSSH HERE_?" She laughed again, and the pervasive, grating sound made him cringe. " _NOW YOU'VE SSSPENT YOUR POWER, AND YOU WILL SSSOON BE USELESSSS TO YOUR PARTNER."_

He growled again, knowing the truth of her words. They'd gambled, and lost. Now it was up to Ladybug, and her Lucky Charm. She'd already called for it, while _La Mort Noire_ was busy taunting him, but he had no idea what she'd received or how he could help her. He'd seen her yoyo fly up, and the whatever-it-was fall down, but that was all. The clock was now ticking for both of them. He began to spin his staff in a showy manner, and willed his scowl into a cocky smirk. It was his turn to play decoy.

* * *

 **We have only a few chapters to go, at the most! I've started on 9, but I'm having a heck of a time with this akuma fight. As always, thank you for reading, and thank you for your wonderful feedback. I love to hear your thoughts!**


	9. Trust Me

I have been laboring over this for WEEKS and I need to be done with it. Why is it so hard to write akumas? Ugh, this was painful. I apologize in advance. Please don't kill me.

* * *

Ladybug crouched behind the chimney stack, clutching the spotted metal can with the black spray nozzle and wondering whether it could really be so simple.

" _HAVE YOU KNOWN DEATH, LITTLE CAT? DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO LOSE THE BRIGHTEST LIGHT IN YOUR LIFE_?"

Ladybug sucked in a breath at those words, knowing that they must have hit her partner like anvils. She peeked around the corner of the chimney, and saw that _La Mort Noire_ had started to drift after Chat, who was spinning his staff negligently, his hands steady but his face pale. She sank back behind the chimney.

"I have, actually."

" _WHO DO YOU LOVE, CAT_?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

The akuma laughed scornfully. " _WHOSE HEART WILL STOP, WHEN I TOUCH YOURS?_ "

Ah, so that's what she did. Ladybug looked again at the item in her hands as her earrings beeped a warning, and decided that she had neither the time nor the desire to learn the answer to that question. Gripping the handle in one hand and the nozzle in the other, Ladybug crept from her hiding place, and toward the akuma. She wasn't sure how close she needed to be, and didn't want to risk it from too far away. Just a few more steps—

" _I KNOW YOU'RE THERE, LITTLE BUG_ ," the akuma called, and Ladybug froze as _La Mort Noire_ drifted to the side, turning to eye both heroes at once. " _YOU THOUGHT TO SNEAK UP ON ME WITH YOUR LITTLE TOY. WHATEVER YOUR PLAN MIGHT BE, IT WON'T WORK_. _YOU'RE OUT OF TIME, AND I AM OUT OF PATIENCE!"_

With that, she dove at Ladybug, who only just managed to get out of the way in time. Chat moved at the same time, using his staff to vault to his partner's side. "Where did she go?" He asked, as he pulled Ladybug to her feet.

"I don't know, but she has to be—"

The words froze in Ladybug's mouth as a frigid grey wind swept up from the roof beneath her feet, passing up through her body. She could see Chat's face through _Mort Noire's_ grey haze, his eyes wide with surprise and horror. Then the cold was gone, and his face went slack. Ladybug caught him instinctively in her arms as he fell, and lowered him gently to the ground. Numbly, she pressed her fingers to his neck even though she knew there would be no pulse.

Her chest ached with the need to wail out her grief, but the sob was locked in her throat. Above her, the wretched _Mort Noire_ cackled madly, and Ladybug felt cold fury bubble up, bringing with it a detached sense of focus. With steady hands, she closed his eyes, shifted Chat's lifeless body from her lap, and stood.

" _HOW DOES IT FEEL, BUG, TO WATCH YOUR HEART DIE BEFORE YOUR EYES?_ "

Ladybug did not deign to answer, but kept her electric blue gaze locked on her adversary even as she stooped to collect her fallen lucky charm. Then she began to advance in sure, measured strides.

 _La Mort Noire_ faltered. " _NO. I TOOK YOUR LOVE. HE'S DEAD! YOU SHOULD BE BROKEN! POWERLESS_!" She swept through Ladybug again, but this time, there was no chill and they both knew that her attack held no further power over Ladybug. " _NOOO!_ _YOU PROMISED ME THE POWER TO BREAK THEM!_ "

Ladybug turned with a humorless smirk to see the akuma hovering only a meter away, shrieking at the unseen Hawkmoth in impotent fury. She raised the fire extinguisher, and blasted her opponent with the frigid spray of compressed CO2. The shrieks ended on a gasp, and _La Mort Noire_ dropped from the air, to stand shivering on unsteady feet. Ladybug strode forward, noting clinically that the cold apparently also prevented her from flying. With cold efficiency, she slammed her fist into the possessed pendant, crushing it against the woman's sternum without the slightest consideration for the bones that also broke beneath her fist.

The poisonous purple butterfly fluttered from its prison and Ladybug snatched it from the air in her hand. Opening the compartment in her yoyo, she thrust the offending akuma inside to be cleansed and snapped it closed. After releasing the purified akuma, she hurled the fire extinguisher into the air and called for the cure. Ignoring the formerly possessed victim entirely, she mechanically scooped up Chat's— _Adrien's_ —body just as his transformation faded and used her yoyo to swing them away from that awful rooftop.

The swarm of magic ladybugs swept them both mid-swing, and all at once she heard him suck in a gasping breath, his arms tightening around her in surprise. She landed behind a decorative façade, which provided a measure of privacy, and finally, _finally_ she allowed herself to fall apart.

* * *

Adrien didn't even ask what had happened; he just held her as she sobbed with her arms locked around his neck. Her transformation dropped in a shimmering wave of pink light, but neither of them stirred. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened—but he had a good idea. He remembered seeing Mort Noire fly up through Ladybug's body, and the pained grimace on her face. Then, nothing.

He thought back on Mort Noire's words, before Ladybug had crept out of hiding. ' _Who do you love,'_ she'd asked. _'Whose heart will stop, when I touch yours_?'

Marinette loved him.

She's said that she did, and he'd believed her. But if _Mort Noire_ 's attack on Ladybug had affected _him_ , then she didn't just love him.

She loved him more than anyone else in her life.

More than her parents.

More than Alya.

It was both thrilling and humbling, and it explained perfectly her distraught state. He knew without a doubt that had their roles been reversed, he'd be in exactly the same state. Except that if she had died, he could not have brought her back.

She'd have been gone forever.

He shuddered, and held her a bit tighter, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

* * *

Alya and Nino sat curled together in the corner of the couch in Marinette's living room. Sabine sat rigidly a short distance away. Tom stood directly behind his wife, his hands resting on her tense shoulders. All four pairs of eyes were riveted to the TV screen. They hadn't been able to see much after Ladybug had lured La Mort Noire to that rooftop. There had been a crash and a billowing cloud of dust, and then—nothing. Several minutes had passed, and the reporter was doing her best to fill the air time while they all waited with baited breath for something to happen.

" _According to the police, several more reports of unexplained deaths have come in since Ladybug and Chat Noir led the akuma away from the_ Trocadero _. Most of them appear to have been earlier victims who were not immediately discovered, but a few did occur after. All of the victims have been moved to the hospital, in the hopes that Ladybug's magic will once again restore all to what it was before_ La Mort Noire _began her horrifying tour of Paris_." The view shifted so that it no longer showed Nadja Chamack on scene, but rather a zoomed-in view of the roof-top from the street below. Her report continued.

" _For those of you who are just joining us, Ladybug and_ La Mort Noire _both moved to this rooftop, where the heroes apparently tried to spring some sort of trap just minutes ago. There's no word yet on whether the ploy was successful, and it has been a tense few minutes as we have all—wait, is that? Yes!_ " The camera shifted abruptly, then focused on the unmistakable figure of Ladybug swinging between buildings with someone in her arms. The familiar swarm of ladybugs engulfed them briefly and then zoomed out of the frame, just as the two people disappeared behind a façade.

Nadja had continued to speak excitedly, but none of the four cared about anything else she had to say. Clearly, Ladybug had been successful, but they had all recognized the person she carried. Sabine turned off the TV with the remote, and then placed her hand over one of her husband's.

Nino cleared his throat, trying to dislodge the growing lump there. "That was Chat Noir with her, wasn't it?"

Tom and Sabine shared a look. "I think so."

"What do you think it means, that she was carrying him like that?"

Alya glared at him. "It means, Nino, that he wasn't transformed, and had no staff to vault around on." She flicked the front of his hat, making it pop off of his head. "He's fine. They're both _fine_."

Tom and Sabine shared another look, but said nothing. Alya jumped up anxiously. "I'll just go up, and uh, let Marinette and Adrien know what happened."

"Yeah, we should, uh, _tell_ them." Nino snatched his hat up from where it had fallen, and stood nervously, bouncing a bit on the balls of his feet. "They should be just about done with that homework…"

" _Nino_!" Alya hissed from the stairs to Marinette's room.

"Right! Yeah, We'll just go tell them."

The two teens disappeared into Marinette's empty room, and Sabine dropped her head back against the couch to look up at her husband. "He is ok, isn't he? Marinette would be shattered if—"

"I know." He leaned down to drop a kiss on her mouth. "I know."

* * *

Neither of them knew how long they sat there, soaking in one another's presence, and neither of them cared. Their phones had started blowing up almost immediately, and Adrien had sent one terse text message to Nino, to let him know that they were alright, and then another to Nathalie. Then he shut off both phones and tossed them aside to hold a still-sobbing Marinette. Long after those sobs had subsided, they'd held one another, enjoying the simple fact that they were both alive to do so. It wasn't until the light had faded from the sky almost entirely that they roused themselves enough to leave. Unfortunately, neither kwami was in any condition to transform, so the two heroes had to make their way down from the roof the old fashioned way.

Marinette had found, to her great relief, that her miraculous cure had undone all of the damage that her heroics had done to her still-healing ribs. Still, she was in no condition to be scaling down the outside of a building without the benefit of Tikki's strength, but that didn't prove to be necessary. The door which provided access to the roof had been left unlocked, and it only remained for them to make their way down the stairs to the ground floor and leave through a side door.

On the sidewalk below, they strolled hand-in-hand until they reached an open café. There, they found an outdoor table in the corner and sat where they could see the road. Adrien ordered a light repast for both of them, and while they waited, he turned his neglected phone back on. He was unsurprised to see several missed calls and about twice as many text messages.

Marinette watched the waitress walk away. "I'm not really hungry."

"Neither am I." Adrien tucked his phone back into his pocket. "Everyone is freaking out, wondering where we are."

Marinette winced. "I guess we should have checked in a lot earlier."

"I did, actually. I texted both Nino and Nathalie before turning off our phones. Hopefully they've passed the word."

"When…?"

"Not long after we—er, sat down." He leaned back as the waitress returned with their drinks. "Excuse me, miss, could you bring the check with our food? _Merci_." When she was gone, he returned his attention to Marinette. "You were…preoccupied at the time."

Marinette felt her cheeks heat, and she began to fiddle with her napkin... "I'm sorry for falling apart on you."

"Don't apologize, Mari. I think you deserved to fall apart." She bit her lip and gave a jerky nod, still watching the napkin as it wound through her fingers. "So, what now?"

She raised her eyes to his. "What now? We go home, I guess. But…" She trailed off and went back to her napkin.

"But?"

"I don't want to. If we go home, then you go to your house and I go to mine and—" She drew in a deep breath, and released it slowly. "You died," she whispered. "You died in my arms, Adrien, and I just don't think that I can let you out of my sight, not yet."

He placed a hand over both of hers, stilling her fingers over the shredded napkin. He waited until she met his eyes. "You don't have to." She gave him a watery smile, and he squeezed her hands. "Are you ready to deal with everyone at your house yet?"

"No. I know they're probably freaking out, but, no."

"We can go to my house, then. God knows, no one will bother us there."

Marinette caught the bitterness in his voice, and winced. "Adrien—"

"It's alright, Mari. Tonight, it works in our favor."

"Okay."

* * *

The waitress returned again with their food (and the check) while he was on the phone with Nathalie. By the time they'd finished eating, the Agreste limo had pulled up directly in front of the café. Adrien pulled a few bills from his wallet and dropped them on the table, and stood. Marinette laced her fingers through his, watching Nathalie anxiously.

"Relax, Mari," he whispered, squeezing her hand in reassurance.

"What are you going to tell her?"

"The truth." Her eyes widened comically and he shook his head. "Not all of it. Just trust me on this?"

She nodded and followed him back through the café to the car.

Nathalie's brow rose in question, but he pressed his lips together and tilted his head toward the car. She understood his silent request, and held her hand out to the open door, inviting them to get in. Rather than sitting in the front with the driver, she climbed in behind them, and took the seat opposite the young couple. And a _couple_ they clearly were, despite the fact that she'd only recently learned that he was even mildly interested in this girl.

On the phone, he'd adopted the cold, imperious manner that his father used, and it had surprised her enough that she's acquiesced to his requests out of sheer curiosity. Now, that curiosity had grown. Adrien rarely showed this kind of spirit, and it seemed that this time, it all centered around the young woman clutching his hand in a white-knuckled grip.

"I believe you promised me an explanation, Adrien."

"Marinette and I were caught in the akuma battle."

"Again? How could you have possibly—you weren't supposed to be anywhere near—"

"Do you want an explanation or not?"

She pressed her lips into a thin line. "My apologies. Please continue."

"Did you follow the attack? Do you understand how her power worked?"

Nathalie's frown deepened. "Yes, but I fail to see how that—"

"Marinette was attacked. I was the one affected."

Nathalie felt the blood drain from her face. "She was—and you were _affected_?"

"He died," the girl said softly, her eyes on their joined hands. Then she met Nathalie's gaze for the first time; her blue eyes were haunted. "He died, right in front of me, and it was my—" She clamped her mouth shut, clearly trying to control her emotions.

"It wasn't, Mari." He pulled his hand from hers and put it around her shoulders, pulling her against his body and pressing a kiss to her temple. "It wasn't your fault, and I'm ok. I'm right here."

She looked again at the pair seated across from her, and realized that they'd forgotten she was even there. Adrien now had both arms wrapped around the petite young woman, and his cheek rested on the top of her head. The girl, Marinette, had grabbed the arm in front of her with both hands. Silent tears tracked slowly down her face as she still fought for control. Both had their eyes closed.

Adrien hadn't finished his explanation, and she was sure that there was a lot she was still missing, but she knew enough now that she could fill in a few of the pertinent blanks. If the akuma's attack on Marinette had ki— _affected_ Adrien, then she not only cared for him, she genuinely _loved_ him. To Nathalie's mind, that was the most salient fact. Furthermore, it was obvious that he felt the same. Though he hadn't yet asked, she knew that they did not want to be separated after their experience. Nathalie also knew that her employer would frown on allowing the girl to stay the night, but she was willing to simply omit that from her report when they returned to the mansion.

She knew that Adrien's driver would be willing to do the same.

* * *

Thanks to the people who helped me brainstorm the lucky charm, you know who you are. (Ironically, the solution I chose was one of the first suggested. I'd discarded it initially, because I lacked knowledge of how they work. It took tapping a chemist for more info to figure out that I'd made things way more complicated than they needed to be.

To those readers who are still with me, thank you for your patience! I am not sure when I will be able to get chapter 10 hammered out, but I am hoping it will be soon. Comments, kudos, and encouragement are well appreciated. ^_^


	10. Shower

In which Alya is losing it, Nino is super chill, and Marinette's parents are freaking awesome.  
Then, Adrien and Marinette get cleaned up before bed. Not a whole lot going on here, really.

Hello, lovelies. :) This is a superfluff chapter in which we get some serious Adrienette bonding time. I haven't really edited, as usual, so please feel free to point out any glaring errors. Thanks!

As a side note, if anyone ever feels like creating some art to go with any of my stories, you would have my blessing. My creative gifts do not extend to fine art in any form, so while I would love to post drawings to go with my work, I'm pretty sure my 8 year old could do a better job of it than I could.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy!

* * *

Nino sat slouched in Marinette's desk chair with his hands folded over his chest.

He'd allowed his eyes to half close, and overall, his posture could easily be mistaken for indolence or apathy. It was neither. On the inside, he was coiled like a spring and he _itched_ to be doing something. But of the two people in the room, he figured at least one of them ought to be calm and rational.

His eyes tracked Alya as she reached the far end of Marinette's room for about the 30th time, spun on her heel, and paced back towards him with her fingers threaded through her now unruly hair as she muttered to herself in agitation. He sighed when she neared him, and he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

"Alya, babe. You got to chill."

"Chill?" She finally stopped pacing to glare at her boyfriend. "It has been hours since we saw Mari swing away with an untransformed Adrien and all we have is one measly text from Adrien saying that they're alright and will be back 'later' and now it's later but they're both entirely off the radar and we have no idea what's going on and soon Mari's parents are going to get suspicious that they haven't seen her since we came upstairs, like, four hours ago and I'm running out of excuses and I'm worried as fuck and I don't know what to do and you expect me to fucking _CHILL_?!"

Nino took in her whole tirade with a raised brow. "You done?"

"Yes." She flopped dejectedly into Marinette's bean bag chair, sliding way down into it. "How are you so calm?"

"I'm not, but you were freaking out enough for the both of us."

She scoffed, but didn't argue the point. "Where the hell are they, Nino?"

"I don't know, babe."

"Do you think they're ok?"

"I hope so." He ran a hand down his face. "I think I liked it better when I didn't know who was behind those masks."

"You and me both." She closed her eyes and tipped her head back to rest on the bean bag beneath her. "So, what—" She cut herself off as a knock at the trap door preceded its opening, and Sabine's face came into view. "Er, Sabine! Hi! Uh, Marinette is just out on the, uh, balcony! I'll just—"

"Have a seat, dear." Sabine came fully into the room, followed by Tom. "We've come to let you kids off the hook."

Nino and Alya shared a bewildered glance. "O-off the hook?"

"We should have come up and sent you two home a long time ago, but after that last report, we kept expecting them to show up at any time." Tom dragged a hand over his face, unconsciously echoing Nino's earlier gesture. "But they haven't come back."

"B-back?"

"Marinette, and Adrien." Sabine smiled kindly at their twin looks of shock. "We know who they are, and we know that now you do, too. It's sweet of you to try to cover for them, but with us, it just isn't necessary."

"But, how did you…?"

"Oh, we figured it out ages ago." Sabine waved her hand through the air dismissively. "But that's not important right now. We need to know what's going on, and why they haven't come back this time. Gabriel's assistant has called three times now, so we know they aren't at Adrien's."  
Tom cleared his throat. "Judging from what we heard downstairs, you haven't heard from them, either?"

Alya blushed, knowing she was the one they'd heard, and shook her head.

"No, not for a few hours. I got a text from Adrien shortly after we came upstairs, but that was it."

Both Tom and Sabine straightened with interest. "You got a text from Adrien?" She asked, hope evident in her voice.

"Yeah. He just said that they were ok, and would be back later." He pulled his phone from his pocket, and brought up his messages. "Here, you can read it."

Tom reached over to take the phone from Nino's hand, and held it so that he and his wife could read it together. "There's really nothing to go on, is there?" He said, disappointed.

Nino nodded. "We thought they would be back by now, too, he replied.

"Well, what do we—"

Alya's phone buzzed with a text message notification, rattling against the surface of Marinette's desk, and all four of them jumped. Nino grabbed it from the desk, and tossed it to Alya.

"It's from Marinette!" She unlocked the phone excitedly, then deflated as she read the message. "She says 'We're both ok, but things went kind of sideways, and I am going to crash at Adrien's tonight. Please tell _Maman_ and Papa that I will be home tomorrow, and I will explain then.'" She looked up, taking in the varying expressions around her, and shrugged. "That's it."

"'Went sideways'?" Tom asked, frowning. "What does that mean?"

"At least we know that they're safe, right?" Sabine replied.

* * *

Marinette turned off her phone, and tossed it on the coffee table in front of the couch. She knew that there was no way that one text would satisfy them, and she didn't envy Alya the job of passing that message to her parents. She cringed. It was probably going to involve some groveling to Alya, and she couldn't even begin to image how she could get out of it with her parents—at least not without telling them _everything_.

Perhaps she could tell them the same thing that Adrien had told Nathalie?

Nope. She and Adrien were supposed to have been in her room, nowhere near the akuma. She shouldn't have been able to leave without walking right by her parents.

So much for keeping her secret. She'd started the week with a perfect record. (Except for Alya, but Marinette wasn't counting her.) Now, the official count was up to three, and it was about to grow to five.

She sighed, and leaned carefully back against the cushions, wincing when her still-battered body protested the movement. Her miraculous cure might have corrected all of the _new_ damage, but it hadn't done a thing for the original injuries.

Injuries that were only about 48 hours old, even though that night felt far away.

She heard the door open and close again softly. "Adrien?"

"Yeah." He came to stand near the end of the couch with a stack of clothing in his hands. "I don't know how she did it, but Nathalie found some clothes for you to change into."

Marinette blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"Mm-hmm," he hummed, holding up a small bottle. "She even found you some shampoo and stuff, so you won't have to smell like me."

"I kind of liked smelling like you," she laughed, but it turned to a groan as she sat forward. "I don't know if I can even manage a shower tonight." She gestured to her side. "It isn't easy to do, currently."

"Shit, I completely forgot that you were hurt." He dropped the bundle on the end of the couch, and sat on the table across from her. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore. More than anything, though, I'm just exhausted."

"We should change your dressings, at least. And, maybe I could help you get cleaned up?" A blush crawled up his neck, and over his cheeks. "N-not anything weird, I just know that I've been looking forward to a shower, and thought that you might feel better if you had one, too—"

"Actually, kitty, that—that sounds wonderful." She could feel the heat of her own blush, but his offer was just too good to pass up.

"Really?" He looked stunned.

"I want a shower almost as badly now, as I did two nights ago." She reached out a hand, and twined her fingers with his. "Besides, I trust you. And I'm still not keen to let you out of my sight."

He smiled warmly at her, and pulled her to her feet. Standing between the couch and the table as they were, they found themselves face to face and they froze there for a moment, simply staring at one another.

Adrien stepped to the side, scratching self-consciously at the nape of his neck. "I'll, uh, go get the bandages and such, if you'll grab the clothes?"

"S-sure," she replied, feeling incredibly awkward.

"Right." He stood there another moment, then seemed to remember that he was supposed to be doing something. "Er, right." He nodded, and turned away to move toward where he'd left his bag.

Once his back was turned, Marinette pressed her cool fingers to her heated cheeks, and wondered what had possessed her to accept his tentative offer.

She'd just agreed to let Adrien Agreste help her shower.

Dear God.

* * *

Adrien stalked to his bag, and started pulling things out, mentally berating himself.

He'd almost kissed her.

He'd suggested helping her with her shower before thinking things trough, but once the words were out, he hadn't wanted to take them back. He just wanted to make things easier for her, but he'd realized too late how his offer might sound. Thankfully she hadn't shrieked at him for being a pervert, or slapped him for his presumption. To his surprise, she'd even accepted. Her words had warmed him, And he'd stood and helped her up without another thought.

Until their proximity had registered, and he'd found himself staring down into her big blue eyes, their bodies so close that a deep breath would have brought their bodied into contact. In that moment, he'd wanted nothing more than to fold her in his arms and kiss her.

Good grief.

Sure, she was his girlfriend, but she was exhausted and injured and he was supposed to be _helping_ her, not _seducing_ her. There would be time for…other things, later.

Still, he couldn't help thinking about the fact that he was going to be in the shower with her, his hands in her hair and on her body, and his body couldn't help responding. He had to get it under control, or she'd take one look at him and kick him out of the bathroom.

"Get it together Agreste," he muttered to himself, gathering the things he'd taken from the bag. He didn't know how he was going to manage this, but he needed to figure it out, quick. She was already in the bathroom, waiting for him, and he was determined to go in there and help his partner—without making a fool of himself.

He paused in front of the not-quite-closed door, and tapped gently. "Marinette?"

"C-come in!" She called softly, her voice unusually high.

He pushed the door open, and he stopped in the doorway with his mouth hanging open. Every thought about maintaining his composure flew out the window.

"I, uh, thought that maybe we could keep our under things on?" She stared at the ground and kicked at her discarded pants with a toe, tugging the hem of her navy blue tunic-style top down over her thighs self-consciously. "I mostly just need help with my hair, and maybe my back, anyway, and I thought it would be less…weird?"

"Yeah," he said, and winced when his voice cracked. The tunic might have been just long enough to cover her panties, but it did nothing to hide her long, well-toned legs. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Yeah, that's, uh, probably a really good idea." He came fully into the room, and put the gauze, tape and antibiotic ointment on the counter next to her change of clothes. He heard her turn on the taps and began unbuttoning his shirt, trying to calm his racing heartbeat. She hadn't thrown him out yet, even though she must have understood his reaction; he didn't want to push his luck. He dropped his shirt on the floor, and moved his hands to the button on his jeans. They followed his shirt to the ground, and he finally made himself turn, praying that she wouldn't notice that he was already rocking a semi.

* * *

Marinette was transfixed. Never mind that she'd seen his well-sculpted ass in tight black leather nearly every day for the past two years. Or the fact that she'd been admiring it in perfectly tailored Agreste jeans for just as long. Nothing prepared her for the experience of turning just in time to see him push his jeans down from his waist. The denim slid down as he bent away from her, pulling his white undershirt taut over his shoulders and revealing his backside covered only by tight black boxer briefs, with the Agreste label printed in silver around the waistband. His jeans dropped to the ground with a soft _shush_ and he stepped out of them, but still she stared. It wasn't until he turned around, and she suddenly found herself staring at something _else_ encased in tight black spandex that she jerked her eyes up to his face.

She'd expected to see humor and perhaps desire on his face, since he'd caught her ogling him so blatantly. The desire was there, certainly, but she didn't expect to see uncertainty or raw vulnerability there with it. It grounded her a bit, and helped her embarrassment to fade, to know that he was feeling much the same as she was. She tugged at her shirt. "Can you help me take this off? It's still painful to do on my own."

He nodded, and stepped forward to grasp the lower him in his hands, being careful not to brush her skin as he carefully lifted it up and over her head. She raised her arms with the shirt, and it came easily off over her head. She winced a bit as lifting her arms still hurt, but it was less painful than crossing her arms and lifting the shirt herself.

"Wow."

He dropped her shirt to the floor alongside the rest of their discarded clothing, and she resisted the urge to try to cover herself under the heat of his gaze. It's just like wearing a swimsuit, she reminded herself. And she was lucky—not only was she wearing a cute matching bra and panties set, but they were also navy blue and would not become transparent when they got wet.

He cleared his throat again, and gestured to the gauze still covering her side. "May I?"

She nodded and turned, giving him access to the tape. He removed it gently, and pulled the gauze away from her skin.

"It looks a little bit better, I think. It's less red." He tossed the soiled gauze into the waste bin, and held a hand out to the large shower. "After you, my lady."

Adrien's shower had two separate shower heads, at right angles to one another. One was mounted directly to the wall, but the other was on a hose, and could be taken down. Normally the two sprays would intersect, but Marinette had already turned them so that she and Adrien would each have their own stream of water. She stepped in under the fixed shower head, and hissed when the spray hit her side. "It still stings," she said, grimacing.

He stepped in behind her, and pulled the glass door closed. "Maybe we can leave it uncovered tonight, and let it dry out? It'll be less sensitive once it scabs over."

"Maybe. My clothing will still stick to it, though." She sifted under her stream of water, allowing it to run over her head. She reached up to work the water through her thick hair, but he brushed her hands away.

"Here, let me. That's why I'm in here." He took the hand shower down from its bracket, and turned her away from him to make sure that her hair was thoroughly wet. Then he replaced the shower head, and reached for the shampoo. "Damn. We left the stuff Nathalie found for you out there."

Marinette shrugged. "I don't care. I liked using your things, before," she admitted. "The smell reminded me of you, even before I knew that Chat was you."

"Yeah?" She could hear the smile in his voice, and the snap of the shampoo bottle opening. "You knew what I smelled like?"

"I must have." He began to work the shampoo through her hair, his fingers massaging her scalp in much the same way that they did at a salon. She tipped her head back, leaning into his touch. "Mmmm, that feels wonderful."

"I have them massage my scalp like this every time I get my hair cut. It's one of the perks of being a model, I guess. It makes getting my hair cut every two weeks more bearable."

She raised her brows. "Every two weeks? Really?"

"Like clockwork. Father won't tolerate a 'shaggy mop', so I have a standing appointment every two weeks to keep it just so."

"I just get mine trimmed every six months or so, but this is my favorite part, too."

His hands left her hair, and she heard metal clang as he lifted the hand shower again. Warm water flowed over her scalp, rinsing the shampoo away. She must have become accustomed to the water, because she'd forgotten all about the scrape on her side until she felt the soap hit it. She hissed in a breath through her teeth and his hand and the water both left her hair.

"What is it?"

"The shampoo burns. It's ok, there's really no avoiding it."

"Oh." He went back to rinsing, and they lapsed into silence. She heard the shower head go back into its holder, and another _pop_ as he opened the conditioner. He worked that through her hair in much the same way he'd done the shampoo, then twisted it loosely and brought it forward over one shoulder. "Did you want me to wash your back?"

"Please? I can't reach back there at all right now."

He didn't say anything, but she heard him pick up the bar of soap. She was expecting a wash cloth, so she jumped a bit when she felt his bare hands on her skin. Though he'd clearly lathered both hands, he still held the bar in both hands and its cool touch was a pleasant counterpoint to the heat of his hands. He soaped her back carefully, making sure to avoid the raw flesh on her side. Then he replaced the soap in its dish, and instead of rinsing her, he returned his hands to her shoulders and began to massage the muscles there.

She let her head drop forward with a low moan, thoroughly enjoying his unexpected ministrations. Not only could she feel him working the tension from her shoulders, but she relished the continued contact. She'd loved every minute of his hands on her, and she was delighted that he'd found an excuse to continue. She moaned again, stretching her neck to the side as he worked his fingers into a particularly tight muscle.

His hands paused for a moment, and then continued. "Is there anything else you need a hand with, other than rinsing your hair?"

His voice was low and rough, and the new quality to it made Marinette shiver. She gulped. "N-no. I can manage the rest."

"Here." He handed her the bar of soap, and then began rinsing her back and her hair with the hand shower as she worked to lather the rest of her body. She was keenly aware of his presence behind her, and while she had no way of knowing what he was actually looking at, she felt sure he was watching her every move as she slid the soap along her skin. She felt incredibly exposed to be doing something so personal in front of him, and she had to remind herself that all of the most important bits were still covered.

By the time she was done, he'd already finished rinsing her. She turned toward him for the first time since they'd gotten in, and saw that he had replaced the shower head in its bracket, wet his own hair, and was presently working the shampoo through it. His eyes were closed and his head tilted back, showing the strong lines of his jaw and throat. The water had both plastered his shirt to his body and rendered it almost entirely transparent, so that she could see clearly almost every detail of his body. As he moved his hands through his hair, giving himself the same treatment that he'd just given her, his muscles moved and shifted tantalizingly beneath the thin material.

Marinette bit her lip, feeling very much like a voyeur in spite of the fact that he was just washing his hair. She was struck again by the incredible intimacy of sharing a shower with him. He shifted back to rinse the soap from his hair, and when he finished, he wiped the water from his face and opened his eyes to catch her staring at him. Again.

* * *

Adrien had thought that wrapping Marinette's ribs two nights ago had been bad. He'd thought that unwrapping her ribs, and helping her pull her shirt on yesterday afternoon had been agonizing. Neither of those experiences had prepared him for sheer erotic torture of running soap-slick hands over her bare skin, while listening to her low moans as he'd massaged her scalp and shoulders. He thrilled to touch her so freely, and yet he didn't dare let his hands stray beyond the boundaries she'd set no matter how badly he'd wanted to. He drew it out as long as he could, but his resolve was weakening. He was only human, after all, and even covered in bruises, she presented a temptation he was finding hard to resist.

Finally, he handed her the soap and rinsed her off before turning his mind to getting himself clean. Washing his own hair provided enough of a distraction that he was able to get his unruly body back under control. At least until he opened his eyes and met her wide-eyed blue gaze. She was obviously finished, though she still held the soap in one hand. She glanced to the shelf behind him, and nibbled at her lower lip thoughtfully. Then she set the soap down and took up the bottle of conditioner.

"May I?" He nodded mutely, and she slid one hand under the hem of his tee, blushing. "C-can you take this off?"

His brows shot up in surprise, and he looked down to see that the shirt clung to him rather revealingly anyway. "Y-yeah, sure." He peeled the shirt off and dropped it on the built in bench, next to his razor.

She was biting her lip again, and surveying him in a way that made his toes curl against the tiles beneath his feet. Her eyes finally made it back up to his face, and she smiled. "You are so incredibly beautiful, Adrien. Here, turn around, and crouch down so I can reach."

He did as she bade, feeling entirely unsteady. This had now officially gone beyond him helping her because of her injuries. She was doing for him as he had done for her, apparently just because she wanted to. And for her to call him beautiful affected him in a way that such compliments never had before. She wasn't a designer or a photographer or even a fan, who wanted something from him. It was an offhand, honest compliment, given just for its own sake.

Her fingers speared through his hair, and he mentally shrugged, letting go of his tumultuous thoughts for the moment. He was willing to follow where she led. He dropped his head back, and allowed himself to simply enjoy the feel of her hands in his hair.

When she was done, she rested one hand on his shoulder, silently asking him to stay. He did, and she scooped up the soap and began to run it in soothing circles over his shoulders. "Stand up?" She asked softly, tapping his arm. He stood, and she continued to swirl the soap over his back, working her way ever downward. When she reached his hips, she applied a gentle pressure to one side. "Turn?" She asked, and he turned to face her. She reached for his hand, and slowly ran the soap up the inside of his forearm, her brow raised in silent question. He nodded, and she resumed her earlier pace, her hands working in tandem, lathering one arm from wrist to shoulder, and then the other.

She brought her hand to his stomach but paused with her fingertips just a breath away from his skin, and looked up to meet his eyes. "C-can I?"

"Yeah," he breathed. Her fingers finished their journey, and brushed him just above the band of his underwear. His skin jumped beneath her fingers, and his breath hitched.

"Sorry!" She jerked her hand back and peeked again at his face, her near-constant blush deepening.

"It's ok. It…tickled a bit."

Marinette nodded, and slowly pressed her hand forward until it was flush against his skin, with her fingers spread out over the taut muscles of his stomach. Then she brought the other hand up with the soap, and began to wash his belly as she had the rest of him. This time, her hands worked steadily upwards, her touch lingering now more than it had before. When she finished, she put the soap away and pressed him back to stand under the stream of water. When she'd rinsed all of the soap from his body, she tilted his head back to rinse the conditioner from his hair.

At that point, there was no more reason for either of them to stay in the shower, even though he hated for it to end. He shut off the water, and pulled towels from the shelves nearby. After passing one to her, he stepped out of the way, and began to towel off. When he was as dry as he could get with wet underwear on, he left the bathroom to get completely dried, and dressed.

He had no idea what was going on behind those blue, blue eyes of hers. She'd touched him intimately, and while it had been both sensual and erotic, it had not been specifically sexual. He had no doubt that she'd been as aroused as he was. Yet, she hadn't done anything to escalate the encounter into something more. For his part, he had enjoyed every moment that her hands had been on him. He didn't even care if they did nothing more than go to sleep, despite the fact that he was now almost painfully aroused. He could always see to things for himself, later. For now, he'd be satisfied to just hold her as they slept.

* * *

I was originally planning to write only one more chapter after this one, to kind of wrap things up, but I think I'm going to write a bonus sin chapter. Because, let's be honest here, there's no way that two horny 17 year olds would have just gone to bed after _that_. It will be its own, self-contained chapter, though, with no important plot points, so that anyone who wishes to skip the naughty stuff, can do so without missing anything. Other than sin.

Also, since starting this fic, I've realized that I messed up the timing. I'd thought that season one took place in year one of Lycee, making them 15, but apparently they were in college-making them 13. Should I just go with it, or should I go back and adjust the story to sync up with the correct timeline? I kind of don't want to bother, but the discrepancy is making me twitch. Thoughts?

EDIT: Apparently, I had their ages right the first time, lol. They are definitely supposed to be 17 in this fic, regardless of how old they are in the show. ;) Thanks for the input, guys! I'm going to adjust the time lapse by a year, but otherwise leave it alone. :)


	11. Sleepover

This chapter was brought to you by the song Toothbrush, by DNCE, and the movie the Princess Bride. If you've never seen that movie, GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW, because it's awesome, and there may or may not be spoilers in this chapter.

There are totally spoilers in this chapter.

You've been warned.

* * *

Marinette waited for the door to click shut behind him, then leaned against the wall of the shower, drawing a deep breath into her lungs. She'd offered to reciprocate because she hadn't wanted to leave yet—not without getting to touch him, too. She should have left him to it when she finished his back. But desire had coiled low in her belly, encouraging her to continue. And so she did, until the prospect of working all the way _down_ his body had finally shaken her bravado.

Marinette shook the thoughts away and peeled off her wet bra and panties, hoping that the normalcy of getting dressed would distract her. She left them in the shower next to his shirt, resolutely squashing a mental image of the hard body that shirt had covered.

Mostly, anyway.

She dried herself, and began to reach for the pile of clothes Adrien had left by the sink, but hesitated. There were just some places that she hadn't been able to wash with Adrien right there, and she wanted to be clean _everywhere_. Just in case. She pulled a rolled wash cloth from the shelf, and went to the sink to quickly wash the bits she'd skipped in the shower.

That done, she went back to the pile of clothing on the counter. There, she found a pair of dark grey yoga pants, a soft robin's egg blue t-shirt, and a matching baby pink bralette and panties set. The pants and shirt had been worn before, but the underthings still had tags on them. They were designer, of course, though they weren't Agreste. Where had these things come from? She couldn't imagine where Nathalie had gotten them, and she felt guilty for taking them, but she was grateful anyway. She pulled the tags off and slipped them on, relishing the feel of the expensive fabric against her skin. She'd just gotten the yoga pants on and picked up the shirt when there was a knock on the door.

"It's me," he called through the door. "Um, can I come in?"

She held the shirt in front of her like a shield. "Y-yeah. I'm decent."

He walked in carrying his wet towel, which he dropped into the clothes hamper. Then be bent to collect everything from the floor. "Nathalie said that she would have your things cleaned for you tonight, so you can wear them again tomorrow. Just put everything in here, and we can leave it outside my bedroom door." He finally looked at her then, and blushed. "Is there a, uh, problem with the shirt? I'm sure we could find something else."

"No, no it's fine," she rushed to reassure him. "All of this was perfect, actually. I just didn't want to put it on until we got this covered," she continued, gesturing to her side.

"Oh, right. That makes sense." He took up the gauze and knelt down to reapply the dressing.

"Where did Nathalie find these things?" She asked, watching him.

"I'm not sure. Honestly, I think they might be hers. You two are about the same size, now."

"I'd like to find out for sure, so that I can replace the, uh, under things. They were new."

He glanced up at her in surprise. "That was convenient. But don't worry about replacing it, I'll take care of it."

Marinette shook her head. "I want to do it. She's being really great about me staying here. I'm really surprised your dad allowed it."

"Eh, I'm not sure he knows. She's been known to just kind of…leave him out of things, when she thinks he's going to be, er, difficult about something."

"Really? All the more reason, then, for me to replace her things, and thank her."

He shrugged. "If that's what you'd prefer, but you don't have to."

"I do prefer."

"There, all done," he said, pressing the last piece of tape in place along the bottom of the gauze.

"Thanks." Marinette pulled the shirt away, and opened the bottom to pull it over her head. She stopped when Adrien made a strangled sound, and looked up to see him staring at the ceiling, red faced. "What is it?"

"N-nothing. I'll just, ah, grab these wet things and—" He stopped abruptly, his hand hovering over Marinette's bra and panties, sitting almost on top of his wet shirt. He made another strangled noise, grabbed all three items at once, and dropped them in the hamper as if they'd burned him. "—I'll just take all this out to the hall, for Nathalie."

Marinette watched him practically run out of the room, bewildered. After all, he'd just been in the shower with her wearing far less than she was now. She turned to the mirror. The bralette covered more skin than her bra had—she stopped mid-thought, her eyes riveted to her reflection in the mirror.

Her nipples were just visible through the lace.

Marinette dropped her head into her hands with a groan, but knew she couldn't just hide in the bathroom all night. She tugged the shirt on, brushed her teeth, and did her damnedest to summon her inner Ladybug.

* * *

Adrien left the hamper in the hall, called down to let Nathalie know that it was out there, and texted Nino, to let him know that they were both at his house. He'd just tossed his phone on the bed when Marinette walked out of the bathroom. He was both relieved and disappointed that her lacy pink bra was hidden under a blue tee shirt. He stifled the disappointment, knowing it was for the best.

She stopped a few feet away from him, biting her lip shyly. "Hey."

"Hey."

"I, uh, hope you don't mind, but I found an extra toothbrush in there, and helped myself."

"I should have thought to offer it to you," he replied, shaking his head. He glanced at the bed, wishing that he could just crawl into it with her. But just because they'd shared a shower did not mean that she would want to share a bed. Or anything else, for that matter. He cleared his throat. "You, um, you can have the bed. I'll sleep on the couch."

Marinette had started to frown before he finished speaking, and her expression looked almost disappointed. "Oh! N-no." She looked at her feet, and kicked at the floor with bare toes. "I don't want to keep you from your b-bed. I'll sleep on the couch."

"Really, I, uh, don't mind. I have plenty of extra pillows and blankets."

"No, it's your bed." She glanced down at it and blushed. "I couldn't—"

"Mari, I'm not letting you sleep on that couch." He crossed his arms stubbornly, feeling frustrated with her persistent refusal. "It's hard as a rock. You'd wake up stiff even if you weren't hurt to begin with."

She jerked her head up, eyes flashing. "And you think I'll let you sleep there, knowing that 'it's hard as a rock'?"

Adrien groaned, realizing his mistake. Marinette would never let anyone be uncomfortable, even if it meant discomfort for herself.

"I will not put you out of your bed, Adrien," she continued, stalking over to the couch. "I'll be just fine for tonight. I'm the one who practically invited myself over, anyway."

"You didn't invite yourself." Adrien stalked after her, yanked the blanket out of her hands, and scooped her up into his arms. "I brought you here, you stubborn Bug, because I wanted you here." He walked to the bed and deposited her gently on the edge. "You are sleeping in the bed, where you will be comfortable, and I'll just keep putting you back in it until you agree with me."

"Fine!" She glared at him mulishly. "But only if _you_ sleep in it with me!" As soon as the words were out, her eyes widened almost comically, and she clapped her hands over her mouth. Her face had turned scarlet.

Adrien's eyes widened, and he felt the heat of his own blush creeping across his face. He hadn't expected that, but he was certainly not going to complain. "W-with you? Uh—"

She moved her hands from her face and started fidgeting. "T-that is, um, I mean, we'll just be sleeping, right?"

"Yeah! Of course. _Sleeping_. That's—that will work. If you're sure that you don't mind?"

She shifted a bit from where he'd put her down. "I don't mind."

"Ok. Good." They stared at one another awkwardly for a moment. "So, uh, did you need anything else?" Adrien asked, scratching the back of his head. "Nathalie said that she would stay up until we went to bed, in case we needed anything."

"N-no, I'm good."

"I'll just, uh, let Nathalie know, and go brush my teeth, then." He grabbed his phone from the bed and padded back to the bathroom, texting Nathalie as he went. He paused to send the text, then turned off the phone and left it on his desk before continuing on to the bathroom.

At the sink, he saw that Marinette had put her new toothbrush in the cup next to his. There had never been another toothbrush next to his, and he decided that he liked it. A lot. He didn't know what to expect in the future, but he knew that he wanted it to stay there, and for her to have lots of opportunities to use it. When he finished brushing his own teeth, he smiled as he placed his back in the cup alongside hers.

Adrien paused in the doorway to his room. His eyes fell on the Marinette-sized lump in his bed, and he wondered if he could really just climb in there with her. Would it be weird? It would probably be weird. Should he stay really far away, to show that he was giving her space? Should he lay close, or maybe try to snuggle her? He shifted his weight from one foot to another, looking around as if his room might have answers. He saw his tablet sitting half-out of his school bag, and inspiration struck. A movie! He tugged the tablet from his bag, and crossed to the bed, smiling once more.

* * *

Marinette heard him come out of the bathroom, and she tensed. What now? How do you talk to someone you're about to share a bed with? It was silent for a few moments, and she nibbled on her lip nervously. Then she heard some rustling, and the soft sound of his feet crossing the floor. The bed dipped behind her. Was it too late to roll over and look at him? Should she just pretend to be asleep? Was there any way for this to be not awkward?

"Would you want to watch a movie or something?"

Marinette released a breath she didn't know she was holding, grateful that he'd solved her problem for her. She rolled to face him, moving carefully so as not to hurt her side. He was sitting with his back against the wall, one leg stretched in front of him, and his other foot resting on the ledge around his bed. His tablet was propped on his raised knee. "A movie? Sure."

"What do you want to watch?"

"I don't know," she replied, shrugging. "Something fun." She pulled herself up to sit next to him and leaned over, watching as he scrolled through the titles.

He hummed thoughtfully in response as his eyes skimmed over the titles on the screen. "Something fun…Oh, how about this, Purr-incess?"

She rolled her eyes at the pun, and looked at the title he'd chosen. "The Princess Bride?"

"Yeah, it's an American cult classic. Have you seen it?"

"No. What's it about?"

" 'Twoo wuv', Marinette!" He laughed at her dubious expression and tapped the icon to start the movie. "We _have_ to watch it, now. I promise you'll like it!" He brought both knees up, and rested the tablet against them, so they could both watch.

Marinette was still watching his face, appreciating the boyish grin that had taken over his features. He glanced at her, then did a double take when he saw that she was watching him and not the screen. He paused the movie, even though it still hadn't properly started.

"You're not watching!"

"Ok, ok!" She pointedly turned her face toward the small screen. "Play the silly movie, _Chaton_."

She watched out of the corner of her eye as he continued to glare at her for a moment, as if making sure that she was really watching, and then he tapped the play icon again. It opened on a scene in a little boy's bedroom, and she frowned in confusion. "I thought—"

"Hush up and watch."

She pressed her lips together in irritation, but did as he asked. It all started to make sense soon enough, and as it turned out, the film was adorable. It was obviously older, and super campy, but it was fun—just what she'd asked for. She began to relax into Adrien's side, cuddling up close to him as they watched it on the tiny screen. It was perfect.

Or at least, it was, right up until Prince Humperdink killed Wesley in a fit of rage. Marinette started at the screen for a moment, dumbfounded. Then the events of the afternoon replayed themselves in her mind's eye and she let out a strangled sob. The image of his face, so still in death, was etched into her mind. She'd managed to banish it for a while, but now it was all she could see. Tears pressed against her lids, and she buried her face against his shoulder.

" _Merde_ , I'm an ass."

Marinette felt Adrien lean forward to place the tablet on the bed, and then she felt his hand press her head against his shoulder. She clutched at him. "H-he, and y-you…" she gasped out, and then the tears were falling freely again.

"I'm so sorry, Marinette. I completely forgot about that part in this one. But, it's ok, really. He ends up being ok, because he's only 'mostly dead'." He pulled his arm out of her grasp and wrapped both arms around her, to lift her into his lap. " _Dieu_. I'm _so_ sorry."

"I-it's alright." She curled her fingers into the fabric of his shirt, and pressed her face against his chest. She could hear his heart, thumping steadily beneath her cheek. She closed her eyes, absorbing the sound. "I just—it reminded me—"

"I know, Bugaboo." He squeezed her gently. "Did you, uh, want to keep watching? It's ok, if you don't."

Marinette sat up, so that she could look at his face. "He's ok? Really?"

"Yeah." Adrien smiled impishly, and his eyes twinkled. "He makes a _miraculous_ recovery."

She smiled at his unusually subtle pun, and wiped the tears from her cheeks with her hand. "Let's finish it, then, kitty." She wiggled around in his lap so that her back was against his chest, and brought her knees up the way his had been earlier. Seeing immediately what she intended, he rested the tablet on her knees, and tapped play.

There wasn't much of the movie left at that point, so it wasn't long before the end credits started to roll. Adrien shut off the tablet and tossed it to the bed next to them. "What did you think?"

"It was cute." Marinette smiled, and dropped her head back against his shoulder. "I'm glad we finished it."

"Me, too. It's always been one of my favorites."

"Yeah?"

"Mm-hmm. It was one of my mom's favorites. I remember watching it with her."

There was a sad, wistful note to Adrien's voice, and Marinette turned her head on his shoulder to look up at his face. "Thank you for sharing it with me, then."

"You're welcome," he replied, pressing a kiss to her temple. "Thank you for giving me more good memories of watching it."

Marinette blushed, but didn't respond. They stayed like that for a few minutes, just sitting together in companionable silence. She would have been content to continue sitting there, except that her eyelids had become dangerously heavy. Behind her, Adrien yawned as if on cue, and she almost immediately did the same.

"Why are yawns contagious?"

"Oh, I have no idea. But they are." She slid off of his lap, and wiggled herself down under the covers. Adrien got up long enough to put the tablet on the shelf near his bed, and then he joined her. They were both on their sides, facing one another, laying close but not touching. The lights were already off, so the only light came from outside. Still, there was enough that she could see his face, and she wondered where the awkwardness had gone. She gripped his hand. "Good night, Kitty."

He smiled. "Good night, Bug."

* * *

Adrien woke to the sound of her whimpers, though it took him a minute to figure that out. He sat up groggily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. The clock on the wall told him that they'd only been asleep for a few hours, and he wondered why in the hell he was awake. Then she did it again.

"Mari?"

She shifted in her sleep, so that a shaft of light fell on her face, illuminating the tears on her face. She whimpered again, and her arm twitched as if she was trying to lift it.

"Marinette?" He leaned over her, and brushed her hair out of her face. "You're dreaming, Bug. Wake up." Her brow furrowed in a grimace and her head whipped to the other side, but she didn't wake. He rubbed a hand up and down her arm, and when that didn't work, he shook her shoulder gently. "Marinette! It's just a dream. Wake up!"

She finally woke, gasping his name. She sat up abruptly, and missed conking her head on his by a narrow margin. She looked around in a blind panic.

Adrien felt his heart twist, knowing that she must have been dreaming about that afternoon. "Marinette, it's ok. I'm right here." He brought a hand to her back and rubbed in soothing circles. "It was just a dream."

"A-adrien?" She blinked wide eyes at him, and they seemed to focus for the first time since she'd opened them.

"You ok?" He moved so that he was facing her, letting his hand move from her back to her shoulder, and down her arm. He gripped her hand, and squeezed gently.

She lifted a shaking hand and touched it to his cheek, as if trying to make sure that he was real. Her fingertips slid along his cheekbone, and he pressed her palm to his cheek with his own. Her luminous blue eyes met his gaze. Without conscious thought, he curled his fingers around her hand, and brought it to his lips to press a kiss to the center of her palm. Their hands fell slowly between them, and he swayed forward until he was close enough to see the tear drops trembling on her lashes, and to hear her softly indrawn breath. Then her lashes fell and she closed the remaining distance between them, pressing her lips to his.

* * *

I know this is another short one, guys, but bear with me. The next one is going to be the fun one, and the one after that should wrap everything up.

I also know that I've been saying "two more chapters" for like three chapters now. Apparently, there was more story to tell than I anticipated. Either that, or I jumped the gun and made separate chapters when I should have been patient and posted 10 and 11 as one long chapter. But whatever.

Thanks for reading, folks! I hope you're all still enjoying this. Let me know what you think! 3 If you want to hit me up on Tumblr, I'm **youcancallmecirce**. I'd like to experiment with taking prompts, so feel free to hop on over there and give me your best shot!


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